Senior Release Train Engineer Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

Job Family

Program and Project management

Job Description Summary

As a Senior Manager, IT Program Delivery, you will lead delivery across a dynamic technology portfolio, enabling alignment, governance, transparency, and operational efficiency while ensuring complex programs and projects run smoothly and in line with organizational priorities. This role is responsible for orchestrating execution across both run and change work, maintaining a structured view of the portfolio, and providing clear business-relevant insights to stakeholders and leadership.
In the WFG portfolio, this role also has an important responsibility to help oversee ART execution within a SAFe operating model. This leader will partner closely with the RTE, Product, Architecture, business leaders, and delivery teams to improve alignment, dependency management, decision-making, transparency, and execution momentum across the ART. Success in this role requires strong influence without authority, along with proven experience balancing agile coordination with traditional program management discipline.

Job Description

What You Will Do:

Technology Portfolio Oversight

• Provide delivery oversight of the technology portfolio, maintaining an accurate, structured view of initiatives, milestones, priorities, and delivery health.
• Ensure leaders have a trusted narrative of what is in flight, why it matters, where it is at risk, and what decisions are needed.

Integrated Planning & Portfolio Reviews

• Facilitate cross-functional planning and portfolio reviews to ensure realistic timelines, alignment to strategy, delivery readiness, and informed prioritization decisions.
• Drive intake and prioritization of new requests in partnership with business and technology stakeholders.

Execution Oversight & Momentum

• Oversee execution of initiatives across the portfolio, proactively addressing ambiguity, obstacles, and misalignment that threaten delivery outcomes.
• Act as a senior delivery leader on key programs within the portfolio, bringing disciplined program management across scope, schedule, milestones, risks, financials, governance, and stakeholder communication.

ART / SAFe Delivery Leadership

• Partner with the Release Train Engineer and other ART participants to strengthen coordination across agile teams, improve execution visibility, and support effective planning and follow-through across the ART.
• Help ensure dependencies, sequencing, risks, and execution issues across agile teams are identified early, made visible, and actively managed to support better delivery predictability.
• Bring portfolio-level oversight and business/technology alignment to ART execution without creating redundant delivery layers, using influence, facilitation, and clear decision support to move work forward.

Cross-Initiative Dependency Management

• Identify, track, and actively drive resolution of dependencies across programs, projects, agile teams, vendors, and stakeholders.
• Reduce friction across teams by surfacing cross-initiative impacts early and ensuring required decisions and escalations happen in time

Risk, Issue & Escalation Leadership

• Surface and manage portfolio-level risks and issues, escalating early with clear context, business impact, and recommended response options.
• Drive timely resolution of risks, issues, and dependencies while reinforcing disciplined governance and operational efficiency across teams.

Performance Insights & Reporting

• Provide accurate, business-relevant portfolio reporting, dashboards, and executive updates that reflect delivery reality and support informed decision-making.
• Translate technical and delivery updates into clear business language, highlighting progress, material risks, financial posture, dependencies, and tradeoffs.

Financial & Resource Management

• Oversee portfolio financials and resource utilization, including budget performance, forecasting, contractor capacity, and alignment of staffing to portfolio needs.
• Maintain strong financial discipline across the portfolio, ensuring leaders understand variances, funding needs, and capacity implications.

Delivery Resource Leadership

• Lead and support delivery roles including Program Managers, Project Managers, Scrum Masters, and Coordinators, ensuring effective staffing, clarity of expectations, and delivery support.
• Foster alignment and credibility across delivery teams through partnership, structure, and practical support rather than micromanagement.

Continuous Improvement & Governance Enablement

• Drive continuous improvement in delivery operations, governance adherence, and use of tools and processes based on data, outcomes, and stakeholder feedback.
• Ensure adherence to portfolio governance standards and broader project framework / SDLC expectations, including disciplined milestone tracking, reporting hygiene, and compliance with required delivery processes.

What You Will Need:

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in technology program and portfolio delivery management, with a proven track record of leading complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong experience overseeing traditional program/project delivery, including program plans, milestone management, governance, risk and issue management, financials, and executive reporting.
• Meaningful experience operating in agile / SAFe environments at a portfolio, ART, or multi-team level, with the ability to improve coordination and execution across teams.
• Strong organizational and communication skills, with the ability to adapt to diverse stakeholders, manage conflict, and proactively resolve issues.
• Demonstrated leadership capabilities including relationship building, negotiation, influence, and facilitation across business and technical teams.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization, including C-level executives.
• Experience delivering initiatives using both waterfall and agile methodologies.
• Deep understanding of governance frameworks, intake and prioritization processes, and delivery operations.
• Proficiency in financial planning, forecasting, and vendor coordination, including budget tracking and resource onboarding/offboarding.

Preferred

• Experience serving in, partnering closely with, or leading alongside Release Train Engineer / ART-level agile delivery roles.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., PMP, PgMP, SAFe, ITIL).
• Experience working within Strategic Planning Office (SPO) or PMO environments.
• Familiarity with enterprise tools such as Jira and ServiceNow systems.
• Exposure to release management, IT operations, and support performance metrics.
• Experience supporting complex portfolios with significant cross-team interdependencies, governance needs, and executive visibility requirements.
• Background in managing global delivery portfolios and coordinating across distributed teams.

Working Conditions

• Moderate travel (under 10% expected)
• Hybrid Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in office
• Locations: Cedar Rapids, IA, Philadelphia, PA, Denver, CO

Compensation:

The Salary for this position generally ranges between $148,800 - $186,000 annually. Please note that the salary range is a good faith estimate for this position and actual starting pay is determined by several factors including qualifications, experience, geography, work location designation (in-office, hybrid, remote) and operational needs. Salary may vary above and below the stated amounts, as permitted by applicable law.

Additionally, this position is typically eligible for an Annual Bonus based on the Company Bonus Plan/Individual Performance and is at the Company's discretion.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

This is a hybrid position requiring three days in office per week in one of our hub locations (Cedar Rapids, IA, Philadelphia, PA, Denver, CO). Relocation assistance will not be provided for this position.

What We Offer

For eligible employees, we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support both the personal and financial well-being of our employees.

Compensation Benefits

• Competitive Pay

• Bonus for Eligible Employees

Benefits Package

• Pension Plan

• 401k Match

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

• Tuition Reimbursement

• Disability Insurance

• Medical Insurance

• Dental Insurance

• Vision Insurance

• Employee Discounts

• Career Training & Development Opportunities

Health and Work/Life Balance Benefits

• Paid Time Off starting at 160 hours annually for employees in their first year of service.

• Ten (10) paid holidays per year (typically mirroring the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) holidays).

• Be Well Company holistic wellness program, which includes Wellness Coaching and Reward Dollars

• Parental Leave - fifteen (15) days of paid parental leave per calendar year to eligible employees with at least one year of service at the time of birth, placement of an adopted child, or placement of a foster care child.

• Adoption Assistance

• Employee Assistance Program

• Back-Up Care Program

• PTO for Volunteer Hours

• Employee Matching Gifts Program

• Employee Resource Groups

• Inclusion and Diversity Programs

• Employee Recognition Program

• Referral Bonus Programs

Inclusion & Diversity

We believe our commitment to diversity and inclusion creates a work environment filled with exceptional individuals. We're thrilled to have been recognized for our efforts through the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, Dave Thomas Adoption Friendly Advocate, and several Seramount lists, including the Inclusion Index, 100 Best Companies for Working Parents, Best Companies for Dads, and Top 75 Companies for Executive Women.

To foster a culture of inclusivity throughout our workforce, workplace, and marketplace, Transamerica offers a wide range of diversity and inclusion programs. This includes our company-sponsored, employee-driven Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which are formed around a shared interest or a common characteristic of diversity. ERGs are open to all employees. They provide a supportive environment to help us better appreciate our similarities and differences and understand how they benefit us all.

Giving Back

We believe our responsibilities extend beyond our corporate walls. That's why we created the Aegon Transamerica Foundation in 1994. Through a mix of financial grants and the volunteer efforts of our employees, the foundation supports nonprofit organizations focused on the things that matter most to our people in the communities where we live and work.

Transamerica's Parent Company

Aegon acquired the Transamerica business in 1999. Since its start in 1844, Aegon has grown into an international company serving more than 23.9 million people across the globe.* It offers investment, protection, and retirement solutions, always with a clear purpose: Helping people live th...