Lead Release Manager - Midnight

Summary

Join IOG's Midnight Tribe as a Lead Release Engineer and spearhead the software release lifecycle for the Midnight platform, a cutting-edge privacy-focused blockchain system. You will be responsible for coordinating all aspects of the release process, from development to production, and for managing CI/CD pipelines. This hands-on leadership role demands expertise in CI/CD practices, deployment strategies, and multi-platform build systems. You will collaborate closely with QA, SRE, and Development teams to ensure the robustness, reliability, and scalability of our multi-component architecture. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience in software release engineering, DevOps, and related fields, along with strong communication and problem-solving skills. This role offers a remote work option and various benefits.

Requirements

• 5+ years’ experience in software release engineering, DevOps, or related technical delivery roles
• Proven success coordinating complex, distributed release pipelines in a multi-language environment
• Deep expertise in GitHub Actions and CI/CD automation, including performance optimisation and artefact management
• Proficiency in Docker and container orchestration
• Strong experience with Rust, TypeScript/JavaScript, and WASM toolchains
• Familiarity with Yarn workspaces, npm publishing workflows, and monorepo strategies
• Experience working with cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Kubernetes) and observability stacks
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to document and explain complex release procedures
• Detail-oriented, organised, and proactive under pressure

Responsibilities

• Own and coordinate all aspects of the software release lifecycle from development to production
• Serve as the primary point of contact for release-related matters across engineering, SRE, and QA
• Define and refine release workflows to support regular, reliable, and secure deployments
• Design, implement, and optimize CI/CD pipelines (primarily in GitHub Actions) across multiple codebases and languages (Rust, TypeScript, WASM)
• Automate testing, building, packaging, and deployment tasks to reduce lead times and increase reproducibility
• Manage and streamline build artefacts, Docker image publishing, and npm distributions
• Align versioning and dependency management across a complex ecosystem, including the node, ledger, wallet, SDKs, and smart contract modules
• Oversee monorepo and workspace strategies using Yarn and package managers
• Coordinate releases for cross-platform compatibility and ensure successful integration across components
• Embed robust test automation, coverage metrics, and quality gates into the release process
• Collaborate with QA to ensure E2E, integration, performance, and regression testing are fully integrated into pipelines
• Conduct post-deployment validation, monitoring, and rollback procedures when needed
• Design and implement staged release pipelines across Devnet, Testnet, and Mainnet environments
• Lead operational readiness activities, ensuring observability and real-time health checks during rollouts
• Produce comprehensive and accurate release notes, technical documentation, and stakeholder communications
• Maintain updated API documentation and artefact metadata across systems
• Lead incident resolution and root cause analysis during release-related issues or failed deployments
• Identify and implement optimisations to reduce build times, enhance test coverage, and increase system resilience

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in blockchain, cryptographic systems, or privacy-preserving technologies (preferred)
• Familiarity with Cardano ecosystem tools and libraries, including Plutus or Marlowe (preferred)
• Experience contributing to or managing open-source software projects (preferred)
• Understanding of zero-knowledge proofs or zk-SNARK technologies (preferred)
• Strong analytical skills with a data-driven approach to optimisation and problem-solving (preferred)

Benefits

• Remote work
• Laptop reimbursement
• New starter package to buy hardware essentials (headphones, monitor, etc)
• Learning & Development opportunities
• Competitive PTO