Description
The Role
DriveNets is seeking an experienced and strategic Vice President of Program & Release Management to lead the end-to-end lifecycle of complex programs and software releases across our networking portfolio. This executive will drive cross-functional execution across Product, Engineering, and Quality to ensure high-quality delivery to global customers and partners.
The VP will play a critical leadership role in the R&D management team, scaling program and release governance in a fast-growing, globally distributed environment. This includes orchestrating large-scale software releases and aligning platform evolution with customer commitments.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Program Leadership
- Lead large-scale programs spanning a 300+ engineering organization across multiple products, platforms, and technologies.
- Translate business and product strategy into executable multi-quarter roadmaps.
- Define development processes to support scale and quality.
- Establish metrics and reporting frameworks to provide transparency and risk insights to the team.
Release Management & Execution
- Own the release lifecycle from planning through all execution phases to customer go-to-market readiness.
- Ensure structured coordination of software and hardware releases across Engineering, QA, and delivery teams.
- Integrate AI-based tooling and analytics (release forecasting, risk detection, automation, quarter planning readiness, customer trends) to drive release excellence.
Cross-Functional Management
- Partner with Product, Engineering, and Customer Support to align priorities and remove blockers.
- Manage dependencies and trade-offs across diverse stakeholder groups.
Team Leadership
- Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing Program & Release Management organization.
- Promote a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
What Success Looks Like
- Achievement of reliable, predictable, and high-quality delivery across major strategic releases.
- Continuous and clear executive visibility into program risks, trade-offs, and timelines.
- Strong alignment between engineering execution and company strategy.
- Scalable processes and frameworks that adapt to rapid growth and technological complexity, including AI-driven features.
