Lead Release Management Specialist

Talent500 is hiring for one of its clients.

Who are we:

Core Insurance Platforms (CIP) is Zurich's global capability responsible for building, running, and evolving core insurance technology. We set a unified, scalable operating model—covering governance, standards, architecture, service delivery, and reuse—so our business units can deliver at speed and scale.

CIP is the strategic steward of Zurich's Guidewire ecosystem, aligning platform roadmaps to business strategy while driving stability, modernization, reduced supplier dependency, and long term cost efficiency.

India delivery center is one of our global delivery and capability hub. We bring together experts in AI, engineering, analysis, quality, and architecture to deliver product & process solutions, application run services, change and transformation initiatives, and centralized platform services across both on prem and Guidewire Cloud environments. Our teams operate from multiple global delivery centers, supporting Zurich's business units worldwide.

Release Manager & Scrum Master

Function: Group Technology Operations (GTO) – Actuarial Solutions

Location: Hyderabad

Skills Screening Summary:

Who are we:

Actuary IT Solutions is Zurich's global capability within Finance, Investment & Treasury (FIT), responsible for running, stabilizing, and evolving shared actuarial platforms supporting IFRS and Group Reporting.

Our portfolio includes core actuarial platforms such as ACE, GNLA, GRAND and GLAD, operated as shared services with clear ownership, measurable KPIs and standardised processes. We are actively modernizing this landscape, including a major migration to AWS targeted for Go-Live in Q1 2027, to improve resilience, speed, cost efficiency and long-term sustainability.

India is an integral part of our global delivery model, working closely with international teams to support platform operations, change and transformation initiatives across the actuarial ecosystem.

Why you'll love working here:

• Enterprise-critical impact – Work on platforms supporting Zurich's IFRS and Group Reporting.
• Complex, meaningful delivery – Coordinate releases across globally used, multi-component actuarial platforms.
• Transformation at pace – Play a key role in the AWS migration programme.
• AI-enabled ways of working – Support AI-first engineering, testing, operations and knowledge management.
• Global collaboration – Work with teams across Hyderabad, Barcelona and other global locations.
• Ownership and accountability – Drive decisions, solve complex problems and deliver measurable outcomes.

If you enjoy working at the intersection of release excellence and Agile delivery leadership, this role offers the opportunity to contribute directly to platforms critical to Zurich's financial reporting and regulatory outcomes.

Role Purpose:

The Release Manager & Scrum Master will manage the end-to-end release lifecycle for the ACE actuarial platform while leading Agile delivery for a geo-dispersed team.

This is a dual-purpose role requiring strong ownership of release planning, coordination, governance and production readiness, alongside hands-on Scrum Master responsibilities. The role acts as a key bridge between Hyderabad and global stakeholders, requiring proactive communication, strong stakeholder management and the ability to manage complexity under pressure.

Key Accountabilities:

Release Management:

• Own the end-to-end release lifecycle, including planning, scheduling, coordination and deployment across multiple environments and integrated components.
• Maintain release calendars, change windows and release plans aligned with business and regulatory timelines.
• Coordinate release readiness across Engineering, Testing and Business teams, ensuring required sign-offs, test evidence and change controls are completed.
• Manage hotfixes, emergency releases and production incidents with structured communication and minimal business disruption.
• Maintain end-to-end release traceability through Azure DevOps.
• Take ownership of release quality, risk management and go/no-go decisions.

Scrum Master & Agile Delivery:

• Facilitate all key Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, retrospectives and backlog refinement.
• Remove impediments, manage scope creep and support realistic sprint commitments.
• Track sprint health, velocity and delivery metrics, proactively escalating risks where required.
• Coach teams on Agile principles and drive continuous improvement.
• Partner with Product Owners to maintain a healthy, prioritized backlog with clear acceptance criteria.
• Foster transparency, accountability and collaboration across distributed teams.

Azure DevOps Ownership:

• Own and optimize Azure DevOps workflows, including Boards, Pipelines, Release Management, Test Plans and Dashboards.
• Configure work item hierarchies, sprint boards and reporting dashboards for delivery and stakeholder visibility.
• Ensure traceability from requirements through testing to deployment.
• Drive adoption of ADO best practices and support onboarding of new team members.

Stakeholder Communication & Governance:

• Provide clear and regular release and delivery updates to stakeholders across Hyderabad and global locations.
• Prepare release notes, deployment plans and post-release reports.
• Represent delivery status in governance forums, highlighting risks, dependencies, decisions and upcoming milestones.
• Act as the Hyderabad focal point for release and sprint-related coordination.

AI-First & Continuous Improvement:

• Apply AI-assisted tools to improve reporting, documentation, risk identification and delivery communications.
• Identify opportunities to reduce release cycle times, improve predictability and enhance sprint delivery.
• Apply critical thinking and professional judgement when evaluating AI-generated outputs.

Skills & Experience:

Required Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of experience in Release Management, Delivery Management or Agile/Scrum roles.
• Proven experience managing releases for large, complex, multi-component enterprise applications.
• Strong hands-on experience as a primary Scrum Master, facilitating teams and removing delivery impediments.
• Experience working in financial services, insurance, banking or another regulated environment is strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to work effectively with geographically distributed teams and stakeholders across time zones.

Technical Skills:

• Advanced hands-on Azure DevOps experience is mandatory, including Boards, Pipelines, Release Management, Test Plans and Dashboards.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, deployment coordination and change/release management processes.
• Familiarity with cloud environments, preferably Azure or AWS.
• Experience with delivery and ITSM tools such as Jira or ServiceNow is advantageous.

Certifications:

• Active Scrum certification: CSM, PSM I/II, SAFe Scrum Master or equivalent.
• ITIL Foundation or an equivalent Change/Release Management certification is advantageous.

Professional Skills:

• Excellent written and verbal communication across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple releases and delivery streams simultaneously.
• Structured approach to risk management, escalation and decision-making.
• Ability to work independently, manage ambiguity and proactively communicate progress.
• Strong ownership mindset and commitment to continuous improvement.

Education:

Bachelor's degree in information technology, Engineering, Computer Science or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

Candidate Data Privacy Notice:

By applying for this position, you acknowledge that Zurich Insurance Group may collect and process your personal data for recruitment and selection purposes in accordance with applicable data protection laws and Zurich's privacy policy. You may request access, correction or deletion of your personal data through the appropriate HR channels.