ServiceNow Release & Environments Lead
// Role Summary
Lead the strategic management and governance of BAE Systems' complex ServiceNow environment, orchestrating all releases from BAU deployments to major upgrades across 11 non-production and 1 production instance.
// Key Responsibilities
- Own and govern the end-to-end ServiceNow environment strategy, including 11 non-production and 1 production instance.
- Lead planning, scheduling, and orchestration of all releases, from frequent BAU changes to complex programme releases.
- Manage the central release calendar, ensuring alignment and adherence to governance processes.
- Coordinate deployment activities across cross-functional teams for smooth change promotion.
- Drive continuous improvement in release and environment management processes.
- Champion DevOps and automation, including CI/CD pipelines and automated testing.
// Role Specification
About the Role
BAE Systems is seeking a ServiceNow Release & Environments Lead to oversee the strategic management and governance of the organization’s ServiceNow environment landscape. This complex, multi-product platform includes ITSM, HRSD, CSM, SPM, SecOps, S2P, and ITOM, spanning 11 non-production environments and a single production instance.
Reporting to the Platform Owner, you will lead the planning and orchestration of all releases, from high-frequency Business As Usual (BAU) deployments to large-scale programme deliveries and major platform upgrades. Operating within an Agile environment transitioning to SAFe, you will ensure releases are delivered in a controlled, consistent, and low-risk manner, aligned to a central release calendar and governance processes.
As a team lead, you will provide leadership and direction to the release and environment management capability, coordinating cross-functional teams to ensure robust release readiness, effective risk and issue management, and seamless deployment execution. You will champion best practice in DevOps and automation, driving the adoption of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance delivery speed and quality. Acting as the central point of coordination across in-house delivery teams, you will ensure alignment across concurrent initiatives, maintaining platform stability while enabling the successful delivery of both incremental change and complex transformation programmes.
Core Duties
- Own and govern the end-to-end ServiceNow environment strategy, managing 11 non-production environments and the production instance to ensure stability, integrity, and optimal usage.
- Lead the planning, scheduling, and orchestration of all releases, from frequent BAU changes to complex, large-scale programme and platform releases.
- Manage the central release calendar, ensuring alignment across multiple concurrent initiatives and adherence to governance and CAB processes.
- Coordinate deployment activities across cross-functional, in-house delivery teams, ensuring smooth and controlled promotion of changes through the environment stack.
- Collaborate with the Platform Owner, Platform teams, and Delivery Leads to align release plans with business priorities and delivery roadmaps.
- Drive continuous improvement in release and environment management processes, embedding best practice and increasing delivery efficiency.
Essential Skills
- An understanding of the ServiceNow platform (preferred) or similar sized platform, coordination of capability releases across multiple environments.
- Implementation of family releases, patches, incident fixes, problem, and stories across the entire SDLC lifecycle.
- Proven track record of managing complex teams and deliverables.
- Ability to anticipate and mitigate risk well in advance within a complex delivery environment.
- Experience to manage any issues that arise and be adept in solution delivery and release management.