Senior Release Manager

Title: Senior Release Manager (Contract)

Location: Bellevue, WA or Remote

Job Description:

At ArenaNet, we’ve always believed that games are art. They have the power to communicate ideas and tell stories. They can change the way we think, reflect our cultures, and move us. As the developer of the award-winning Guild Wars game series, we’re proud to share our passion for the online worlds we’ve created with over 21 million players worldwide.

ArenaNet develops and publishes games for every kind of person, which means our games need to be built by every kind of person. We believe the best experiences come from working together, celebrating differences, and helping each of our team members shine.

We’re looking for a Senior Release Manager (Contract) to lead release, configuration, and change management efforts across multiple teams and products. In this role, you’ll be responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing software releases into preproduction and production environments.

You’ll partner closely with development, product, and cross-functional teams to ensure releases are delivered smoothly, on time, and with high quality. This role requires strong organizational skills, technical understanding, and the ability to bring teams together in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Develop and maintain release manifests and roadmaps to track and coordinate release content.
• Communicate release status, timelines, and risks clearly across stakeholders.
• Provide ongoing release status updates and highlight issues to product teams.
• Provide hands-on support of product release and deployment.
• Develop and maintain documentation for releases and update online systems.
• Coordinate rapid release cadences across multiple teams.
• Understand and debug conflicts between releases (source code or art/design/sound assets).
• Deploy the game/products to players using automatic and/or online systems.
• Develop repeatable processes and procedures for long-term, conflict-free releases.
• Create and maintain runbooks for all release types.
• Ensure teams understand and adhere to release constraints and best practices.
• Coordinate the deployment of builds and integrate changes between the various environments and branches.
• Act as a point of contact for rotating on-call shifts for emergency support of live products. Demonstrate schedule flexibility for on-call work, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
• Manage risks and resolve issues impacting release scope, schedule, and quality.
• Lead launch readiness reviews for projects of varying scope.
• Generate reports and metrics to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience in release management or production for game development across multiple platforms.
• Extensive experience building schedules and prioritizing.
• Experience deploying games built in Unreal Engine.
• Familiarity with first-party submission and certification processes.
• Strong understanding of game development workflows and system priorities.
• Ability to vary approach or adapt processes to address the issues at hand within the context of the team working on the project.
• Experience resolving conflicts across source code and content pipelines.
• Knowledge of CI/CD systems such as Jenkins.
• Working knowledge of source control systems like Perforce, including branches and streams.
• Experience with JIRA or similar software for ticketing and workforce management.
• Familiarity with documentation tools like Confluence.
• Working knowledge of Python or other coding language, preferred.
• Experience working within Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or Waterfall development frameworks.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Clear and proactive communication across technical and non-technical teams.
• Ability to adapt processes to meet the needs of different teams and projects.
• Data-driven mindset with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Excellent relationship management skills, including the ability to stay objective, calm, and bring people together in times of stress.

This is a 12-month remote-friendly contract position.

Applications will be accepted until Friday, May 15th at 10am PT. If the deadline is extended, the posting will be updated accordingly. If the position is filled before this date, the posting will be removed.

This contract position is paid hourly, with additional overtime compensation when applicable. While we’re providing the full range for transparency, our target hiring rate generally falls between the minimum and midpoint of that range.

This role is eligible for benefits through our third-party employing agency, which may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k) plan, and flexible and dependent care spending accounts.

Hourly Pay Range

$53.53 - $80.29 USD

Don’t meet every single requirement on this job post? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ArenaNet, we believe diversity in culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and backgrounds make us a better team – we celebrate it. So, if you’re excited about this role, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.