Release Manager at Access Bank

Access Bank Plc is a full service commercial Bank operating through a network of about 366 branches and service outlets located in major centres across Nigeria, Sub Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom. Listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1998, the Bank serves its various markets through 4 business segments: Personal, Business, Commercial and Corporate & Investment banking. The Bank has over 830,000 shareholders including several Nigerian and International Institutional Investors and has enjoyed what is arguably Africa's most successful banking growth trajectory in the last ten years ranking amongst Africa's top 20 banks by total assets and capital in 2011. As part of its continued growth strategy, Access Bank is focused on mainstreaming sustainable business practices into its operations. The Bank strives to deliver sustainable economic growth that is profitable, environmentally responsible and socially relevant.

Role Summary

• We are seeking a highly organized and proactive Release Manager to lead the end-to-end software release process across our organization. In this role, you will coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality, secure, and timely releases that meet business objectives. Success in this position means driving efficient release cycles, ensuring minimal service disruption, and building strong partnerships between development, quality assurance, operations, and business stakeholders.
• This role is critical to ensuring that our products and systems continue to perform reliably and evolve in line with customer and organizational needs.

Responsibilities

• Plan, schedule, and manage the end-to-end release process, ensuring timely delivery of software updates and enhancements.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (engineering, QA, operations, and business stakeholders) to track release readiness and identify risks.
• Maintain detailed release calendars, roadmaps, and documentation for all ongoing projects.
• Drive continuous improvement by implementing release management best practices, automation tools, and CI/CD pipelines to reduce cycle time and improve quality.
• Conduct release readiness and go/no-go reviews, ensuring risk assessments and testing requirements are met.
• Monitor post-release performance, track incidents, and coordinate root-cause analysis and resolution where necessary.
• Serve as the key liaison between technical teams, business units, and external vendors for release planning and delivery.
• Stay current with industry standards, emerging tools, and governance frameworks to enhance release processes.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience: 3+ years of experience in release management, software delivery, or DevOps, preferably within enterprise or financial services environments.

Skills:

• Proven ability to manage complex release cycles for mission-critical applications.
• Strong understanding of SDLC, Agile methodologies, and CI/CD practices.
• Hands-on experience with tools such as Jenkins, Git, Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar platforms.
• Exceptional problem-solving and risk management skills, with a track record of proactive issue resolution.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement abilities, including reporting to senior leadership.

Certifications (Preferred):

• ITIL v4 Foundation, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), or similar release management/DevOps certifications.

Method of Application