Purpose of the Job:

To provide leadership and executive accountability for the end-to-end release management of the BEAM and related Business Support Systems (BSS) platforms, ensuring controlled delivery of system changes that protect production stability while enabling business, regulatory, and strategic outcomes

Lead and govern end‑to‑end release management for the BEAM and related BSS platforms, balancing controlled system change with the protection of production stability in support of business, regulatory, and strategic objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Release Management & End-to-End Accountability

• Accountable for the end-to-end lifecycle management of all BEAM and associated BSS releases, from initiation and planning through deployment, stabilisation, and post-implementation review
• Deliver system releases that enable approved business, regulatory, and operational change while protecting the stability and integrity of production environments
• Define and enforce clear release entry and exit criteria across business, technical, and operational dimensions
• Maintain a forward-looking release roadmap aligned to strategic priorities and platform constraints

Change Control, Risk and Governance Management

• Establish clear governance frameworks to ensure compliance and consistency
• Enforce disciplined change and release governance in line with the Cell C change policies and best practice
• Identify, assess, and actively manage release-related risks, dependencies, and constraints
• Define and validate mitigation and rollback strategies for all releases
• Represent Release Management in formal governance, war-room, and escalation forums and provide the required expertise and guidance

Delivery Planning & Requirements Intake

• Translate approved business and technical requirements into structured, executable release plans
• Coordinate prioritisation and sequencing of release items, balancing urgency, capacity, and risk
• Control scope changes and prevent unauthorised or unmanaged changes entering production
• Manage dependencies across BSS, network, MVNO, and external partner platforms

Vendor, Partner and Managed Services Oversight

• Manage and oversee the Release Management interface process for managed service providers and technology vendors
• Manage and coordinate vendor delivery capacity, customisation pipelines, and execution readiness.
• Oversee vendor activities to align with contractual, commercial, governance and service‑level commitments
• Support procurement and financial processes required to enable effective release delivery

Testing, Quality Assurance & Operational Readiness Management

• Maintain and oversee accuracy, completeness, and correct formatting of all documentation and submissions in accordance with approved templates and standards
• Validate environment readiness, configuration integrity, and operational support models
• Ensure operational handover and post-release monitoring is executed effectively and seamlessly
• Drive reduction in recurring defects and release-related incidents
• Drive continuous improvement in release, change, and governance maturity

Stakeholder Management and Alignment

• Establish and nurture long-term relationships with senior stakeholders across Technology, BSS Operations, and supporting functions
• Actively manage stakeholder expectations through proactive engagement and trust-building
• Provide clear, consistent, and timely communication on release status, risks, dependencies, and outcomes
• Develop structured reporting mechanisms (dashboards, executive summaries, risk logs) to enable informed decision-making
• Escalate critical issues with recommended mitigation strategies to executive stakeholders
• Act under delegated executive authority when required to ensure continuity of delivery

Qualifications

• An NQF 7, Tech/B.Sc Engineering/ B. Tech/B.Sc. Computing Science/ B. Engineering or equivalent qualification
• A relevant NQF 8 or Honour’s/Postgraduate degree
• A Management qualification or a Master’s qualification will be advantageous

Experience

• 11 – 12 years’ experience in a similar environment, of which 4 - 6 years ideally at senior lead specialist level (with demonstrated outstanding influence and delivery)
• Experience in International roaming and/or interconnect billing processes
• Experience in communicating and managing interface into different areas of an organisation including at senior management level

Special Requirements

• Approved and auditable release plans and schedules
• Controlled production deployments with minimal service disruption
• Complete change and release artefacts for audit and compliance
• Clear stakeholder reporting on release performance and risk

Measure of success

• Predictable, stable, and well-governed release delivery
• Low incidence of release-related production issues
• Strong audit, governance, and compliance outcomes
• High stakeholder confidence in delivery executive