Release Manager, Product Development (Remote - US)

Why join Nextech?   We are a leader in specialty healthcare technology solutions.   We’re committed to hiring and retaining talent, which is why we invest in our employees through competitive pay, a generous bonus structure, great healthcare, a comprehensive wellness program, and many other benefits.   If you are a software engineer, finance or accounting professional, customer support specialist, or a business development expert with a passion for healthcare technology (just to name a few), we want to hear from you.   We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity.  All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics are encouraged to apply. If you are a candidate in need of assistance or an accommodation in the application process, please contact [email protected]. Job Summary The Release Manager plays a critical role in ensuring the successful planning, coordination, and delivery of software releases across the Product Development organization. This role serves as the central point of accountability for release execution, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, QA, and DevOps teams to deliver high‑quality, reliable software on predictable timelines.   The ideal candidate brings strong experience in SaaS‑based product development environments, applies Agile best practices, and excels at orchestrating cross‑functional teams through complex release cycles. Health technology experience is strongly preferred, given the importance of quality, reliability, and compliance in our products.   All activities must be in compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity laws, HIPAA, ERISA, and other regulations, as appropriate. Essential Functions:

Release Planning & Scheduling

Own and maintain release calendars across product development portfolio.

Define release scope, milestones, dependencies, and delivery timelines.

Coordinate planning across development, testing, and deployment phases.

Cross‑Functional Coordination & Communication

Act as the primary point of contact for release execution across Product, Engineering, QA, and DevOps.

Facilitate release readiness reviews, go/no‑go decisions, and stakeholder communications.

Ensure alignment on expectations, risks, and delivery commitments.

Quality Assurance (QA) Oversight

Ensure testing standards, acceptance criteria, and quality gates are consistently applied.

Confirm release documentation and approvals are complete.

Deployment Management

Manage production deployments schedules, including coordination of release windows and sequencing.

Ensure rollback and contingency plans are defined and tested.

Support incident response and resolution during release activities as needed.

Risk Management

Identify, track, and mitigate risks that could impact release timelines or quality.

Proactively work with stakeholders to resolve issues and escalate blockers as appropriate.

Drive continuous improvement of release processes to reduce risk over time.

CI/CD Optimization

Partner with DevOps on release automation practices and ensure effective use of CI/CD pipelines.

Partner with DevOps to improve reliability, repeatability, and speed of deployments.

Promote best practices for feature flagging and controlled rollouts (e.g., LaunchDarkly).

Early Adopter Program Management & Scaling

Partner with Product, Engineering, Client Success, and GTM teams to support the execution of early adopter and limited‑release programs.

Coordinate release planning, feature enablement, and deployment sequencing for early adopter cohorts.

Ensure controlled rollout practices are followed, including feature flagging, access management, and rollback readiness.

Support the transition of features from early adopter programs into broader general availability (GA) releases.

Help define and improve scalable processes, tooling, and governance to support growth of early adopter programs without increasing release risk.

Contribute to continuous improvement of early access frameworks to balance speed, quality, and client experience.

Post-Release Monitoring & Improvement

Monitor post‑release performance and stability.

Contribute to ongoing improvements in release management, tooling, and governance.

Minimum Qualifications: Preferred Qualifications: Working Environment/Physical Demands