Who are we?

Western National Insurance Group is a private mutual insurance company with over 120 years of experience serving customers' property-and-casualty insurance needs in the Midwestern, Northwestern, and Southwestern United States. Known as “The Relationship Company,” we define success as a measure of the relationships we’ve built over time. In everything that we do, we know that delivering a friendly and helpful interaction makes for a better experience for everyone involved. That’s the power of “nice”. At Western National, nice is something we work to bring to every person and organization with whom we partner and serve.

Does this opportunity interest you?

Western National is seeking a Senior Release Control Analyst to join our team! The individual in this role will have the opportunity to partner with multiple areas of the organization to support the release management process. Work will include hands-on code releases as well as the continual improvement of the release management process.

The ideal candidate will have six plus years of experience in release control or release management with strong hands-on experience, working experience within a broad range of IT, and the ability to continually improve the release management process.

What are the responsibilities and opportunities of this role?

Oversees, schedules, configures, and deploys software builds to pre-production and production environments.
Reviews documentation submitted by developers and business analysts to support the software releases.
Creates, maintains, and communicates the annual release calendar.
Communicates upcoming release dates, deadlines, and status to ensure teams are on track to deploy to production.
Partners with delivery teams, scrum masters, and business analysts to create an implementation and validation plan for each release.
Works with the application development teams to establish effective back-out procedures for production software deployments.
Coordinates with other IT teams to minimize change conflict and risk across the entire IT environment.
Performs Guidewire pre-production restores and schedules Guidewire production backups.
Documents and continually improves the release management process.
Partners with application developers to establish and govern implementation standards, concepts, methodologies, and automated processes.
Meets service level agreements for software deployment and helps ensure that a quality product is released.
Defines key performance indicators for the release management process and ensures that performance goals are being met.
Reports monthly software release statistics including number of deployments per environment and other key performance indicators for the release process.
Documents process updates, ensures proper tool functionality, and trains users as needed to ensure proper execution of the release management process.
Ensures proper standards and MAR audit controls are met.
Presents change requests associated with releases at Change Advisory Board meeting.
Performs additional duties as assigned.

What are the must-have qualifications for a candidate?

Demonstrated experience with software release management.
Hands-on experience releasing code.
Demonstrated experience managing and approving change requests.
Strong oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills with ability to work effectively with all areas of the IT organization.
Demonstrated strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Proficient use of various core systems, office and computer equipment, and software packages.
Bachelor’s degree, experience in lieu of degree acceptable.

What will our ideal candidate have?

Demonstrated excellent organizational, time management, and prioritization skills.
Ability to work independently, meet deadlines, and maintain dependability.
Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
Working knowledge of ITIL processes.
Ability to work flexible hours, including early morning, evenings, and weekends, as needed to support promotion requirements and schedules.
ITIL certification preferred.
Working knowledge of source control tools such as Gitlab, Bitbucket, ALDON, TortoiseSVN.
Experience with Guidewire, IBM iSeries, SQL scripts, and Jira is preferred.

Compensation overview

The targeted hiring range for this role is $100,530 - $122,870, annually. However, the base pay offered may vary depending on the job-related knowledge, skills, credentials, and experience of each candidate as well as other factors such as the scope and location of the role. Candidates looking for compensation outside of the posted range are encouraged to apply and will be considered based on their individual qualifications and/or may be considered for other positions.

Culture and Total Rewards

Western National has long been known as “The Relationship Company” and caring for our employees is part of that relationship commitment. We value connectiveness, empowerment, and accountability, and we believe that our employees are our biggest asset.

Currently ranked as the 41st largest private company by revenue in Minnesota (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal), Western National has earned accolades year-over-year as an employer of choice and garnered multiple awards for wellness in the workplace. Western National has also been named a Top Workplace by the Star Tribune for the past four consecutive years. In addition, the Group is consistently recognized as a Ward’s 50 property-and-casualty insurance company for its outstanding financial results.

Western National offers full-time employees a significant Total Rewards Package, including:

Medical insurance plan options and other standard employee benefits, including dental insurance, vision benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, and more!
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) Plan (participants are eligible for 100% matching on the first 6% of their contributions)
Wellbeing Program, including onsite fitness studio
Paid Time Off – including holiday, vacation, and volunteer
100% company-paid tuition reimbursement for approved job-relevant coursework and access to The Institutes (Risk and insurance education)
Paid parental leave
Bonus opportunities

Western National believes in supporting balance between work and life by providing a flexible work environment, which includes a variety of hybrid and remote work arrangements designed to balance individual, job, department, and company needs.

Western National provides employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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Senior Release Control Analyst