Job Description

The Opportunity
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is seeking an experienced and detail-oriented Release Manager to support the successful implementation and ongoing delivery of our enterprise Workday platform and UKG Pro Workforce Management system in the Business Applications team within the Information Services Department. This role is critical to managing the planning, coordination, and execution of integrated releases across Workday HCM, Payroll, Financials, Supply Chain, Grants Management, and multiple custom Workday Extend applications.
What You'll Do
As part of a dynamic and mission-driven team, the Release Manager will develop and lead release strategies that ensure stability, alignment, and transparency across the organization. The role also includes planning and oversight of enhancements, configuration changes, and vendor-delivered updates, with a focus on enabling Dana-Farber's continued operational excellence in support of its life-saving work.
This is a highly collaborative position that requires cross-functional coordination with HR, Finance, Supply Chain, Research Administration, and IT stakeholders, ensuring every release is executed with precision and minimal disruption to business operations.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end release management lifecycle for Workday and UKG Pro Workforce Management, including core updates, enhancement deployments, configuration changes, and hotfixes across all modules (HCM, Payroll, Financials, Supply Chain, Grants, and custom Extend apps).
• Develop, document, and refine release management processes, from initial review of vendor release notes through prioritization, planning, testing, communication, deployment, and post-release evaluation.
• Establish a scalable and repeatable release framework that incorporates both regularly scheduled vendor updates (e.g., Workday biannual releases, UKG Pro feature packs) and organization-driven enhancements, features, and bug fixes.
• Collaborate with product owners, functional leads, technical teams, and business stakeholders to review vendor release documentation, assess impact, identify applicable features, and determine adoption strategies for each release.
• Facilitate backlog grooming and enhancement prioritization by establishing intake and evaluation processes for new requests and improvements, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and capacity planning.
• Champion agile methodologies, ensuring iterative planning, sprint-based work management, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and adaptive roadmaps are followed in collaboration with functional and technical teams.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams (Configuration, QA, Integration, Security, Reporting, and Change Management) to ensure release readiness, manage interdependencies, and mitigate delivery risks.
• Maintain and communicate an integrated release calendar, proactively managing collisions, blackout periods, business readiness, and stakeholder dependencies.
• Lead cutover planning and deployment execution across non-production and production environments, ensuring alignment on timing, data readiness, test completion, and rollback procedures.
• Drive change control governance by facilitating change advisory board (CAB) reviews, assessing risk, and enforcing compliance with internal policies and audit requirements.
• Ensure clear and timely communication of release scope, status, risks, and outcomes to all impacted stakeholders including business leaders, end users, and IT teams.
• Lead post-release retrospectives and continuous improvement efforts, identifying lessons learned and implementing process improvements for future releases.
• Support UKG Pro Workforce Management release planning and coordination, ensuring synchronization with Workday-related functionality and workforce operations.
• Track and report on release performance metrics, such as defect rate, user adoption, scope changes, release cycle time, and stakeholder satisfaction to drive operational transparency and accountability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or related work experience
• 5+ years of experience managing enterprise application releases, preferably in SaaS environments.
• 3+ years of direct experience with Workday release management (HCM, Payroll, Financials, Supply Chain, or Grants).
• Experience coordinating or supporting releases with UKG Pro Workforce Management is strongly preferred.
• Solid understanding of agile, hybrid, and traditional SDLC methodologies, and how to apply them in enterprise change environments.
• Strong knowledge of release planning, change control, risk management, and deployment strategies.
• Proficiency with tools such as Jira, ServiceNow, Smartsheet, Panaya Test Dyanmix, or similar for release planning and tracking.

Skills for Success

• Familiarity with Workday Extend, Studio, and integration technologies.
• Certification in Workday, ITIL, Agile/Scrum, or SAFe frameworks.
• Experience in healthcare, higher education, or nonprofit sectors.
• Ability to learn quickly.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and other popular office productivity solutions.

Competencies

Strong communication skills - able to translate complex technical information into clear, actionable plans for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Influential collaborator - skilled at aligning diverse stakeholders, facilitating decisions, and managing conflict diplomatically.

Highly organized and detail-oriented - exceptional at tracking interdependencies, managing timelines, and driving accountability.

Strategic thinker - understands how release management supports enterprise goals and proactively shapes processes to add value.

Problem solver and decision-maker - able to quickly assess issues, evaluate trade-offs, and recommend solutions in fast-paced environments.

Change agent - comfortable challenging the status quo, encouraging process improvement, and leading teams through evolving priorities.

Adaptable and resilient - thrives in ambiguity and manages stress while maintaining focus on outcomes.

Customer-focused mindset - prioritizes user experience and business continuity while planning and executing releases.

Team builder - fosters a sense of ownership, support, and collaboration across cross-functional teams.

Working Model Requirements

• M-F Eastern Business Hours required
• This position is primarily remote, and the team operates in a virtual environment. However, occasional on-site presence may be required for critical planning sessions, go-live support, or team collaboration events.
• Remote work requires stable, secure, quiet, compliant work area

Mass General Brigham Incorporated is an Equal Opportunity Employer. By embracing diverse skills, perspectives and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. #J-18808-Ljbffr

Job Tags

Full time, Work experience placement, Work at office, Remote work,

Similar Jobs