Release Manager - AML for Canadian Banking Client

Our financial services client is seeking a Release Manager (10+ years) to coordinate technology releases across the AML application portfolio

Join a leading Canadian banking environment managing coordinated release activities across seven integrated AML applications and multiple concurrent workstreams. This position plays a key delivery role overseeing production defects, remediation efforts, and stability initiatives across the AML ecosystem. The role offers high visibility across business, technology, and vendor stakeholders, supporting complex enterprise change execution within a regulated banking environment.

Contract, Toronto, Hybrid

Must Haves

• 7+ years in Release Management, Project Management, or Program Delivery within large enterprise environments
• Background in financial institutions or banking technology delivery
• Proficiency managing production defects, remediation initiatives, and post-implementation stabilization
• Strong understanding of SDLC, release governance, and change management processes
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field
• Familiarity with ITSM tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira)

Nice to Have

• AML / Financial Crimes technology experience
• Experience with AML platforms or vendors such as NICE Actimize, SAI Global, or Wolters Kluwer
• Exposure to modernization or technology currency programs
• Experience in regulatory or compliance-driven environments

Responsibilities

• Coordinate release management activities across seven AML applications and supporting workstreams
• Manage defects, enhancements, and remediation items from completed projects and production releases
• Act as the central coordination point between project, support, vendor, QA, infrastructure, and business teams
• Maintain visibility of upstream and downstream impacts on AML systems and enterprise initiatives
• Partner with the Change Request team to prioritize and coordinate enhancement and defect efforts
• Work with the 24/7 production team to maintain operational stability and issue resolution
• Drive release planning, dependency management, risk tracking, and communication across the AML portfolio
• Facilitate governance meetings, defect triage sessions, and release readiness reviews
• Ensure production releases align with enterprise change management and SDLC requirements
• Coordinate vendor delivery with AML technology partners including NICE Actimize, SAI Global, and Wolters Kluwer

Release Planning & Coordination

• Develop and maintain the release calendar and roadmap
• Plan release cycles (major, minor, emergency/patch releases)
• Coordinate release schedules across multiple teams and systems
• Manage dependencies between projects and applications

Release Execution

• Lead end-to-end release activities (build, test, deployment, validation)
• Facilitate go/no-go decision meetings
• Ensure proper versioning, packaging, and deployment procedures
• Oversee production releases and ensure smooth rollouts

Stakeholder Management

• Act as the central point of contact for release-related communications
• Align with business stakeholders, product owners, and IT teams
• Provide timely updates on release status, risks, and impacts

Risk & Issue Management

• Identify, assess, and mitigate release risks
• Manage release incidents and coordinate rollback plans if needed
• Ensure proper contingency and backout strategies are documented

Process & Governance

• Define and enforce release management processes and standards
• Ensure compliance with change management and audit requirements
• Maintain release documentation (runbooks, checklists, release notes)

Continuous Improvement

• Track KPIs (release success rate, defects, deployment time)
• Conduct post-release reviews and lessons learned
• Recommend process improvements, automation, and tooling enhancements