Senior Manager, Change and Release Management Operations (ITSM)

About Northern Trust

As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.

Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.

With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

We are seeking a Senior Change and Release Management leader to own and continue to evolve the Change and Release Management function, enabling safe, predictable, and efficient delivery of production changes across a complex, highly regulated technology environment.
 

This role is responsible for leading the day-to-day execution, governance, and continual improvement of ITSM Change and Release Management practices across a complex, regulated technology environment. The role ensures production changes and releases are delivered safely, predictably, and efficiently while balancing business agility, operational stability, risk management, and regulatory compliance.

This role is accountable for ensuring that change governance enables business outcomes, balancing velocity, stability, risk, and regulatory expectations at enterprise scale. This leader will be accountable for operational governance, change risk oversight, release readiness, CAB leadership, stakeholder engagement, process optimization, and performance reporting based on the OKRs and KPIs. The role partners closely with Technology Infrastructure, Application Development, Information Security, Risk & Control, Audit, Service Management, and Business stakeholders to drive disciplined execution and continuous service improvement

Key Responsibilities

Change Governance, CAB & Risk Decisioning

• Lead the execution of end‑to‑end Change Management process, ensuring compliance with IT controls, regulatory standards, and enterprise risk

frameworks

• Chair and actively participate in Change Advisory Board (CAB) forums, driving collaborative, well‑informed change decisions
• Partner closely with Business Units (BUs), Technology, and Operations leaders to ensure risk‑based, outcome‑focused decisioning on changes
• Promote and sustain a risk‑aware, decision‑driven change culture, with strong exception evaluation and mitigation strategies
• Partner with Risk & Control, Audit, and other Lines of Defense to evidence control monitoring and ongoing compliance
• Oversee internal and external change audits, ensuring timely execution, transparent issue management, and senior leadership visibility
• Monitor policy adherence and escalate non-compliance, control weaknesses, and operational risks
• Review high-risk, major, and emergency changes to ensure adequate planning, testing, fallback, and implementation readiness.
• Drive reduction in change-related incidents through robust governance and proactive risk identification.

Release and Change Operational Excellence

• Design and operate lean, scalable, and resilient change and release processes suitable for high‑volume production environments
• Define, implement, and enforce SLAs across the full change lifecycle
• Produce executive‑ready month‑end change reporting, highlighting throughput, risk trends, systemic issues, and improvement opportunities
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to improve production stability and operational maturity
• Own operational governance of enterprise release activities across application and infrastructure portfolios ensuring compliance with the controls
• Partner with Release Owners, Product Teams, and Technology Leaders to improve release predictability and deployment success
• Lead release readiness reviews and ensure completion of required artifacts, approvals, and compliance checkpoints
• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate Change and Release Management processes.
• Lead CSI initiatives focused on efficiency, quality, compliance, and user experience.
• Leverage data analytics and operational insights to drive measurable improvements.

Technology, Delivery & Tooling Enablement

• Partner with the Change Management Product and process Owners to enable tooling modernization and workflow automation, including requirements, testing, and enterprise adoption
• Leverage enterprise platforms such as ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, Clarity, and other PPM / ITSM tools
• Apply a strong understanding of application delivery models, release practices, and testing readiness when assessing risk change and deployment confidence
• Integrate cybersecurity considerations and control dependencies into CAB discussions and change approval decisions

 Leadership & Stakeholder Partnership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high‑performing Change and Release Management team
• Act as a trusted partner to Engineering, Application Development, Infrastructure, Operations, and Business stakeholders
• Communicate clearly and credibly with senior management, enabling informed and timely decision‑making
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, risk awareness, and continuous improvement.
• Influence senior leaders to drive adoption of governance standards and operational excellence

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 16 years of experience in the IT industry, with senior leadership accountability
• Minimum 6 years of experience leading Change and/or Release Management functions within large, complex environments
• Demonstrated experience in financial services or other highly regulated industries
• Proven expertise with ITSM controls, ITGCs, and audit frameworks
• Hands‑on experience working on Servicenow and internally developed, proprietary application platforms
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering or related discipline.
• Strong Demonstrable knowledge of ITIL and ITSM processes.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-scale Change & Release improvement initiatives.
• Experience working within regulated or governance-intensive environments.

Required Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of:
  • ITIL Change Enablement
  • Release Management
  • SDLC Governance
  • Operational Risk Management
  • Service Transition
  • Production Readiness
  • ITSM process linkages
  • DevOps and Agile delivery methodologies
  • Experience implementing automation and workflow optimization initiatives
  • Experience supporting regulatory examinations and technology audits

• ITSM Platforms

• ServiceNow
• ITSM Governance Frameworks
• Performance Analytics
• Service Reporting

Certifications (Preferred, Not Mandatory

• ITIL v4 Managing Professional or ITIL Expert Certification.
• ServiceNow ITSM certification.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Thinking
• Innovation & Automation Mindset
• Data-Driven Decision Making
• Executive Communication
• Enterprise Architecture Thinking
• Influencing Without Authority
• Continuous Improvement
• Operational Excellence
• Customer & Stakeholder Focus
• Mentorship & Technical Leadership

Working with Us

As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve.

Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities.

Reasonable Accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected], or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.

About Our Pune Office

The Northern Trust Pune office, established in 2016, is now home to over 3,000 employees. The office handles various functions, including Operations for Asset Servicing and Wealth Management, as well as delivering critical technology solutions that support business operations across the globe.

Our Pune team takes our commitment to service to heart. In 2024, they volunteered more than 10,000+ hours into the communities where they live and work. Learn more.