Release Manager

Wayve • Sunnyvale, CA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

At Wayve, you will help deliver the value of our breakthrough autonomous driving technology by ensuring our software systems are released reliably, on time, and with the stability needed to support fleet operations and product development. This means balancing fast-paced innovation with clarity, structure, and disciplined release practices.

We’re looking for someone pragmatic, methodical, and system-minded — someone who understands how releases fit into the broader engineering and product ecosystem, and who introduces processes and systems where they are needed to achieve stability, clarity, and business goals.

Requirements

• 5+ years in release management, software engineering, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and release management practices, including testing strategy, system integration, branching and versioning.
• Knowledge of configuration management including hardware configurations.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automation tools (eg Github, Buildkite, CLI tools).
• Skilled at managing multi-platform releases.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making ability in release trade-offs.
• Good communication skills, comfortable working with engineers and presenting to leadership.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in automotive, robotics, or AI industries.
• Experience managing system or bundle releases, including third-party software.
• Experience with Agile and DevOps methodologies.
• BSc or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Responsibilities

• Release Planning & Coordination: Own release cycles, maintaining a steady and predictable shipment rhythm while adapting to business priorities.
• Issues & Change Management: Drive decisions on which issues or change requests must be included or deferred, balancing stability and speed.
• Bottleneck Identification & Improvement: Identify constraints in the release process (e.g. quality gaps, branching strategy, tooling) and drive improvements to resolve them. Implement dashboards and KPIs for program visibility, and proactively escalate gaps.
• Process & Systems building: Understand how releases fit into the wider system of engineering, operations, and model development, and build processes and frameworks that support clarity, stability, and business goals.
• Tooling & Automation Influence: Partner with SRE/DevOps to shape CI/CD, testing and release tooling. Defining requirements that improve developer experience and release efficiency.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with engineering, product, and operations teams to ensure successful and stable releases.
• Clarity & Communication: Act as the central point of contact for release status, risks, and timelines, keeping stakeholders informed at the right level of detail.
• Continuous Improvement: Run post-release reviews and drive corrective actions across teams.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level