Release Manager Contract Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Senior Release Manager Location: Gaithersburg, MD (Primary); Alexandria, VA; Chantilly, VA; Englewood, CO; St. Louis, MO; Tucson, AZ Required Clearance: Active TS/SCI with Polygraph Eligibility Employment Type: Full-Time Regular Shift: Day Travel: No Relocation Assistance: Yes Company Overview We are Ennoble First. The people supporting and securing some of the most complex government, defense, and intelligence projects across the country. We ensure today is safe and tomorrow is smarter. Our work has meaning and impact on the world around us, but also on us, and that's important. Ennoble First is your place. You make it your own by embracing autonomy, seizing opportunity, and being trusted to deliver your best every day. We think. We act. We deliver. There is no challenge we can't turn into an opportunity. Position Overview Ennoble First is seeking a Senior Release Manager to support the Chinook program for an Intelligence Community customer. In this highly visible role, you will lead software release planning and execution while serving as a Scrum Master for Agile development teams delivering mission-critical capabilities. Working closely with engineers, Product Managers, DevSecOps professionals, and customer stakeholders, you will coordinate software releases, facilitate Agile ceremonies, improve delivery processes, and help ensure secure, high-quality software is delivered in a fast-paced mission environment. Primary Responsibilities Release Management * Develop, maintain, and execute integrated release plans across multiple Agile teams. * Coordinate release readiness activities including planning, integration, testing, deployment, and production support. * Manage release schedules, dependencies, risks, and cross-team coordination. * Facilitate release planning meetings and Go/No-Go decision reviews. * Collaborate with Agile teams to improve CI/CD and release automation. * Track release metrics and communicate release status to program leadership and customer stakeholders. * Ensure compliance with customer governance, configuration management, cybersecurity, and change management processes. * Coordinate release documentation, deployment approvals, and implementation activities. Scrum Master Responsibilities * Serve as Scrum Master for one or more Agile teams. * Facilitate Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Reviews, Retrospectives, and Backlog Refinement. * Coach teams on Agile principles, Scrum practices, and continuous improvement. * Remove impediments and proactively resolve delivery risks. * Partner with Product Managers to maintain healthy product backlogs and prioritize work. * Foster collaboration across development, test, security, and operations teams. * Track team velocity, sprint metrics, and Agile health indicators. * Promote transparency, accountability, and continuous process improvement. Program Leadership * Coordinate dependencies across multiple Agile teams and external organizations. * Support Program Increment (PI) Planning and release forecasting. * Identify program risks and recommend mitigation strategies. * Prepare executive-level status reports and release dashboards. * Support process improvement initiatives and Agile maturity efforts. * Mentor Scrum Masters and Agile teams to higher levels of maturity. Required Qualifications * U.S. citizenship is required per contract. * Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field and 8-12 years of prior relevant experience, or Master's degree with 6-10 years of prior relevant experience. May possess a Doctorate in a technical domain. * Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Advanced CSM, or Certified Scrum Professional (CSP). * 10+ years of experience supporting software development programs. * 5+ years of Release Management experience within Agile software development environments. * 5+ years serving as a Scrum Master for Agile development teams. * Experience managing releases across multiple Scrum teams. * Strong understanding of Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and Lean methodologies. * Experience supporting DevSecOps and CI/CD environments. * Experience with Jira, Confluence, or similar Agile lifecycle management tools. * Excellent facilitation, communication, and stakeholder management skills. * Experience supporting DoD or Intelligence Community programs. * Active Top Secret/SCI clearance with the ability to successfully pass a Polygraph examination. Preferred Qualifications * SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE), or SAFe Agilist certification. * PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) and/or PMP certification. * Experience with GitLab, Jenkins, GitHub Enterprise, or other CI/CD platforms. * Experience with Kubernetes, cloud-native technologies, or containerized deployments. * Experience supporting mission systems within the Intelligence Community. * Experience with scaled Agile frameworks and multi-team release coordination. Pay Range $120,000-$155,000 Ennoble First is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Ennoble First participates in E-Verify. The information below will be listed on our website's careers landing page. EEO is the Law | Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination www.dhs.gov/E-Verify E-Verify is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This business uses E-Verify in its hiring practices to achieve a lawful workforce.