Release Management Guild Lead

Description

As the Release Management Lead, you’ll own the enterprise-wide change and release strategy, oversee cross-team planning and governance, and drive automation and continuous improvement. You’ll partner with Dev Ops, Platform Engineering, Security, and business stakeholders to ensure safe, efficient, and transparent delivery of change.

At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them, their team and our customers. You'll work at least two days a week (40%) away from home, moving to three days a week (60%) in the future. Away from home means either attendance at one of our office locations, visiting clients or attending industry events.

We’re also happy to consider flexible working arrangements, which you can discuss with Talent Acquisition.

• Own the enterprise-wide change and release management strategy, frameworks, and tooling.
• Oversee the planning, coordination, and execution of change across Agile Release Trains (ARTs), platforms, and delivery teams.
• Govern the release lifecycle across multiple teams, ensuring traceability, security, and auditability of change.
• Enable continuous delivery through modern Dev Ops practices, CI/CD pipelines, and platform automation.
• Lead PI (Programme Increment) planning and change governance forums to align change across squads, platforms, and portfolios.
• Identify cross-team dependencies and risks, proactively managing change impacts and ensuring operational stability.
• Embed structured change management methodologies (e.g., ITIL, Prosci ADKAR) into delivery practices and culture.
• Drive continuous improvement of release cadence, change quality, and incident reduction.
• Build and lead a high-performing change and release team, with capability across Dev Ops, release, and stakeholder management.

Due to the number of applications we expect to receive for this role, we reserve the right to close this advert earlier than the listed closing date to ensure we’re able to effectively manage interest. Therefore, if you’re interested in joining us at AXA, please don’t hesitate to apply.

We know that some candidates may be discouraged from applying if they don't meet every requirement. If you’re excited by this job and the prospect of working at AXA but you’re not sure you tick every box, we’d still encourage you to apply.

• Strong experience in technology change, and release, leadership roles in complex enterprise environments.
• Strong knowledge of Agile Release Trains (ARTs), SAFe delivery models, and Lean Portfolio Management.
• Proven track record of managing large-scale, multi-team change delivery with a strong emphasis on automation and governance.
• Skilled in CI/CD tooling and release automation strategies (e.g., Git Hub Actions, Jenkins, Azure Dev Ops).
• Hands‑on experience with containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) and platform‑level change deployment.
• Proficient in infrastructure and application monitoring and observability (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
• Strong understanding of risk analysis, impact assessment, and change readiness in technology environments.
• Familiar with ITIL, Prosci ADKAR, or equivalent change management frameworks.

As a precondition of employment for this role, you must be eligible and authorised to work in the United Kingdom.

At AXA UK, we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• Competitive annual salary dependent on experience
• Annual company & performance-based bonus
• Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
• Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
• Private medical cover
• 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 5 days leave
• Wellbeing services & resources
• AXA employee discounts

To apply, click on the ‘apply for this job’ button, you’ll then need to log in or create a profile to submit your CV. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer and don’t discriminate against employees or potential employees based on protected characteristics. If you have a long‑term condition or disability and require adjustments during the application or interview process, we’re proud to offer access to the AXA Accessibility Concierge.

For our support, please send an email to

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AXA UK Support Functions power AXA’s three customer‑facing business units, providing the infrastructure, support and expertise to ensure our customers can always count on us. Whether you’ve got heaps of experience and qualifications behind you, or you’re just starting out, we’ll give you the support and opportunities to help you grow and develop with confidence.