Job Description
Release Management Practice Lead Join our dynamic IT team at AXA Belgium! We are looking for a Release Management Practice Lead to own and continuously improve our release management practice, ensuring the successful coordination and governance of functional IT releases into production. The purpose of this role is to own the release management practice at AXA Belgium in line with ITIL best practices, ensuring clear process definition, continuous improvement, up-to-date documentation, and effective communication to all stakeholders. In this role, you will act as the orchestration point between IT Product Teams, operations, business stakeholders, and governance bodies to ensure releases are delivered successfully with minimal risk and disruption. You will ensure traceability, quality, auditability, and readiness of production releases, fully compliant with AXA Belgium Release Management policy. Tasks Description: Release management process: Define, document, and continually improve the release management process, ensuring stakeholders have the guidance and information needed to adhere to it. Release coordination: Define, maintain, and share a release calendar; coordinate functional IT releases into production and highlight key releases, risks, and potential conflicts. Track and maintain metrics on adherence to the release management process for all releases; identify, document, and manage release risks, deviations, and exceptions. Lead and participate in the Change & Release Board (CRB), ensuring clear decision-making, conflict management, and readiness for production deployment. Release governance: Define, publish, and communicate release metrics and provide full audit traceability and evidence for internal and external reviews. Change management collaboration: Work closely with the AXA Belgium Change Management Practice Lead to ensure quality review of IT changes and alignment of the Change Calendar with releases and business priorities. Provide formal CAB input (approval/rejection) for IT changes impacting AXA Belgium and act as a backup for the Change Management Practice Lead when needed. Ensure production release readiness by validating prerequisites (documentation, approvals, test evidence, deployment and rollback plans) and facilitating go/no-go decisions with stakeholders. Promote standardization and automation where possible by collaborating with teams on CI/CD pipeline practices, deployment automation concepts, and release tooling (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira, Azure DevOps). Drive stakeholder communication before, during, and after releases, ensuring timely status updates and clear handling of conflicts, exceptions, and post-release follow-up actions. Your Profile: Master's degree in IT or equivalent professional experience. At least 3 years of professional experience in IT. Fluent in Dutch or French, with excellent English skills. Knowledge of the other national language is a plus. Analytical mindset and strong communication and presentation skills. Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC). Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation concepts. Knowledge of infrastructure and enterprise applications, with willingness to learn and adapt to our diverse technologies. Knowledge of IT service management tools (ServiceNow, Rally, Jira or similar). ITIL certified or eager to obtain ITIL v5 certification(s) as part of your Personal Development Plan. Experience in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, insurance) is a plus. If you are an experienced IT professional passionate about improving release practices and enabling safe, compliant deployments, we encourage you to apply and become part of AXA's commitment to excellence in IT service delivery! AXA aims to be a reflection of the diverse society in which we live and has therefore been pursuing a policy of active diversity, non-discrimination, and equal opportunities for many years. In this context, we guarantee equal treatment and access to recruitment, regardless of age, origin, cultural background, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. AXA Belgium We are more than 3000 employees, partnering with 3200 brokers, located in our modern offices in Brussels, Antwerp, Eupen, and Liège. We are serving 3 million customers, and we are proud to be the number 1 car insurer. It is our ambition to not only be a payer but rather a real partner for our customers. Our four core values drive us every day to give our best for our customers while collaborating effectively with our colleagues: Customer First, Integrity, Courage, and One AXA. At AXA, we reject unfair or unlawful discrimination in any form. More info in our Diversity & Inclusion Policy. What we offer A nice reward for your work An attractive salary, supplemented with discretionary personal and collective bonuses and of course, meal and eco vouchers, the full reimbursement of public transport, and a cafeteria plan. The benefits of working at an insurance company From group to hospitalization insurance and ambulatory care (family members can also join at an advantageous rate) and with up to 30% discount on all additional insurance products. A job that respects your personal life and dreams A flexible schedule of 35 hours per week, 36 days of leave per year to recharge, as well as the option to work partially from home. You will benefit from sports classes at work, employee wellness programs and trainings, to keep you in great shape, both physically and mentally.