Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Release Engineer
A release engineer is a professional who is responsible for coordinating the process of releasing software and related updates to production environments. They troubleshoot build and deployment related issues and offer solutions. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Release Engineers.
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Main Responsibilities of Release Engineer
The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Release Engineer:
Address
Address core design and stability issues across the stack.
Align
Align team activities to program and business objectives.
Approve
Approve event report in QTS system.
Assist with
Assist in the day to day management and administration of CI / CD tooling.
Assist with administration of Linux and Payara web application servers and QA environments.
Assist with automating release management processes in Atlassian JIRA.
Assist with troubleshooting during releases.
Audit
Audit and maintain business listings and location directories across the web.
Automate
Automate / script build and deployment processes in an Agile CI environment.
Automate the SW Build and Release process using common build automation tools.
Build
Build Cloud testing platform.
Build meaningful metrics and reports to show health of various systems.
Build, manage and grow a team of experienced and passionate engineers.
Build
Build software development infrastructure and pipelines models.
Build strong infrastructure using OpenShift, BareMetal, AWS, GKE and Azure.
Build / test / release infrastructure and helping accelerate the pace of releases.
Collaborate with
Collaborate across DevOps and product engineering teams to ensure a robust pipeline.
Collaborate with software teams across the company to provide build release engineering support.
Collaborate with the global release engineering team.
Communicate
Communicate release details and schedules to the Business.
Communicate to customer the content and status of the design, design changes, and build requirements.
Communicate to users and management on status of service incidents and outages.
Configure
Configure and administer new jobs on Jenkins and Udeploy tools.
Configure and maintain the version control system (GIT).
Consult
Consult on UNIX Shell Scripting and Job automations and Scheduling on AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Linux.
Contribute
Contribute and maintain documentation related to core development, deployment, and standards.
Control
Control and ensure compliance certification to government standards.
Coordinate
Coordinate release activities with product, engineering, and QA teams to ensure smooth releases.
Coordinate release planning.
Coordinate with Application Engineers to communicate engineering changes and 2D print releases.
Coordinate with tools development team to ensure mobile team's CI / CD to be flawlessly operate.
Craft
Craft, maintain and document reliable automation tools and frameworks.
Create
Create and maintain CI / CD for all kinds of platforms.
Create and manage release branches.
Create and support new tools for continuous integration, automated testing and release management.
Create build framework for our engineer to easily test their change on the CI system.
Create Cooperative, Open and Compliance working atmosphere.
Create tools to optimize operational tasks.
Define
Define and enforce proper versioning of technical work.
Define product internal / external interfaces.
Deploy
Deploy and maintain automated solutions to monitor, test, repair and scale our systems.
Design
Design and configure our platform based on unique business requirements.
Design and develop infrastructure monitoring and reporting tools.
Design and engineering development including CAD, benchmarking, and design reviews.
Develop
Develop and advocate strategies and solutions to drive improved service levels.
Develop and document tools and workflows which can be integrated by R&D and other technical teams.
Develop and execute closures system parts and component.
Develop and improve automated tests for the creation of installation packages.
Develop and Maintain Continuous Integration Suites in Python and Java.
Develop and Maintain the Engineering Environment Tooling.
Develop annual product quality review plan.
Develop, deploy, and maintain code branching and release workflows, quality gates and standards.
Develop, Deploy, Automate, and Migrate Best Coding Practices.
Develop infrastructure automation solutions using scripting, Ansible and other automation tools.
Develop predictive analytics, dashboards and monitoring.
Document
Document build standards and release procedures.
Document critical product specifications, drawing and / or modeling when applicable.
Document the release management process.
Document the release process in detail so other engineers can improve or audit the process.
Engage
Engage and support project delivery teams for post release activities.
Ensure
Ensure BCP and DR activities are compliant.
Ensure code merging is successful across multiple branches.
Ensure compliance to technical standards during Prototype vehicle build support, evaluation.
Ensure design reviews are completed and productive.
Ensure high quality in delivering stable builds.
Ensure monitoring of environment usage is conducted across all non-production environments.
Evaluate
Evaluate architecture risks and contributes to effort estimation of backlog items.
Evaluate prototype designs to verify functional requirements and conduct design revisions.
Evangelize
Evangelize standardized process and framework across services where relevant.
Execute
Execute and manage deployment activities for each sprint.
Execute any other related work assigned by company.
Execute code promotions in preparation for releases.
Facilitate
Facilitate collaboration and communication within and across teams.
Facilitate release meetings, go / no-go reviews, and retrospectives.
Formulate
Formulate leadership level messaging and communications.
Formulate releases and drive through an environment.
Generate
Generate cost savings ideas and attend VAVE (Value Analysis Value Engineering) workshops.
Govern
Govern the Patching schedule for our servers to ensure compliance and limit impacts.
Grow
Grow QA competencies within the platform engineering group through hiring, mentorship, and training.
Help
Help build and maintain critical infrastructure for the Build and Release Pipeline.
Help define, deploy, and troubleshoot high density server hardware and distributed software.
Identify
Identify improvements and innovations in development processes and methodologies.
Identify opportunities for reuse of software parts.
Identify and evaluate new solutions for implementation.
Identify problems, elevate concerns, recommend solutions & resolve issues.
Implement
Implement best practices for building, testing, and releasing software.
Improve
Improve our build tools to make sure our build release process more efficient and reliable.
Improve star ratings and search result rankings.
Integrate
Integrate and test new versions of Visual Studio, Xcode, iOS and Android SDKs.
Interface with
Interface and support multiple cross-disciplinary product teams.
Interface with other functional groups, evaluate and recommend tools.
Interface with systems engineers and 3D designers to develop and validate wire harness designs.
Introduce
Introduce new tools to improve developer productivity.
Involve
Involve in other functions within company and external suppliers on design-related matters.
Lead
Lead and guide the design process.
Lead and maintain Jenkins release and deployment processes using Maven.
Lead best-practices for building, testing, and releasing software.
Lead complex application deployments in load-balanced service-oriented environments.
Lead releases / projects for Application & Infrastructure implementations across CI / CD pipelines.
Lead Site Reliability and Release Engineer.
Lead the Release Readiness reviews and Go-Live activities to deploy the software successfully.
Learn
Learn about typical challenges customers face today when implementing SAP software.
Maintain
Maintain and improve build pipeline for all our game projects across all platforms.
Maintain detailed documentation.
Maintain good communication skills internally and with customer.
Maintain release schedule for all core services and ensure alignment across key partners and vendors.
Maintain the build process to support ongoing R&D..
Maintain tools and processes to build and release apps to the Google Play Store, and Apple App Store.
Make
Make operational changes to improve customer experience.
Manage
Manage CI & CD tools and pipeline as a partner to development teams.
Manage design release cost including piece cost and tooling.
Manage release of several mobile artifacts in support of internal and external stakeholders.
Manage risks and resolve issues that affect release scope, schedule and quality.
Manage the release strategy that promotes safe, fast and repeatable change.
Maximize
Maximize customer retention and revenue.
Monitor
Monitor, request and respond to online reviews.
Negotiate
Negotiate, plan and manage all release activities.
Optimize
Optimize tools and processes for efficiency, cost, stability and developer productivity.
Own
Own and continually improve the validation test / release process.
Own commercial targets (piece cost, tooling cost & ED&D cost).
Own release runbooks, implementation and post deployment stabilisation activities.
Own the parts from concept to post-launch.
Participate in
Participate in CAB meetings to discuss release scope and / or roadblocks.
Participate in design and development of new products.
Participate in meetings to discuss release scope and / or roadblocks.
Participate in release planning.
Perform
Perform code merges, system integration, OS\DB support.
Perform other duties as assigned or apparent.
Perform scheduled production releases.
Perform transmission adaptation learning, transmission fault clearing.
Prepare
Prepare and deliver timely software releases to customers.
Prepare Design Failure Modes Effects Analysis.
Produce
Produce and utilize DVPR's for product validation.
Produce Deployment, Run Books and Implementation Plans.
Provide
Provide a high degree of inputs to performance and scalability engineering efforts.
Provide release support during production deployments.
Provide support to the production team in case of release issues.
Provide weekly Release Reporting.
Release
Release engineering and management.
Release Pipeline Architecture and tooling.
Release these via the XL Fleet design release process.
Research
Research, evaluate and select new tools, and apply these tools to the RE infrastructure.
Research problems and develop solutions.
Respond to
Respond to game team and studio requirements for improvements to developers' workflow.
Review
Review and provide feedback on the Software Release Management (RM) process.
Review post-mortem of submissions to improve and streamline the process.
Review processes to identify gaps in design and / or execution.
Share
Share knowledge and mentor junior resources.
Stage
Stage a secure build and test environment keeping up with the cutting-edge technology.
Support
Support and improve our tools for continuous integration, automated testing and release management.
Support deployments of code into multiple lower environments.
Support environment management functions for network and application releases.
Support harnesses build events and vehicle launches with customer.
Support intake effort for standing up AI implementation environments.
Support / Leads technical review.
Support / Maintain customer part release system and approval documents.
Support our CI and source control systems.
Support plant performed supplier audit.
Support software development and delivery through CI / CD, infrastructure as code, and automation.
Support teams on the on-boarding process into our provided tooling.
Track
Track record of identifying useful new technologies and incorporating them into SW development flows.
Track record of improving the stability and efficiency of builds and deployments.
Train
Train and mentor developers on the use of the automated infrastructure.
Train and mentor engineers to use and adopt new tools and best practices produced by your team.
Translate
Translate product requirements into technical requirements and system language.
Triage
Triage and debug build issues and work with developers to ensure timely resolution.
Triage troubleshooting efforts for pre production activities.
Troubleshoot
Troubleshoot and lead resolution of integration issues in client environments.
Troubleshoot and resolve build and submission failures.
Troubleshoot build related issues.
Troubleshoot existing build configurations, and provide solutions or seek help from the team.
Troubleshoot issues with builds and deployment and offer solutions.
Use
Use ClearCase or Git as the Version Control system to manage developer workflow.
Validate
Validate new versions of 3rd party software such as Unity and Unreal Engine.
Validate new versions of IDE and OS platforms.
Work with
Work autonomously on highly complex product issues which are diverse in scope and / or multifaceted.
Work closely with QA teams to integrate automated testing as a part of CI / CD.
Work directly with development and operation teams to resolve build and release issues.
Work in a complex technical project under timing constraints.
Work under general supervision with latitude for independent judgment.
Work with a global team spread across tech hubs in multiple geographies and time zones.
Work with client technical teams to upgrade new releases in client environments.
Work with engineering team on builds and releases.
Work with other Operations team members to secure and schedule resources.
Work with release engineers to understand impacts of branches and code merges.
Work with the Development teams to design and support our UC platform as a whole.
Write
Write complete functional and design specs independently.
Write the necessary scripts for deployment.
Most In-demand Hard Skills
The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Release Engineer:
Windows
Maven
Devops
Agile
Groovy
Ruby
Bash
Puppet
Terraform
Most In-demand Soft Skills
The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Release Engineer:
Written and oral communication skills
Problem-solving attitude
Analytical ability
Interpersonal skills
Interface with internal and external customers
Organizational capacity
Multi-task
Team player
Work independently with little direction
Ability to manage multiple tasks
Detail-oriented
Flexible
Priority management
Sense of ownership
Adaptability towards changes in assignments and work schedules
Customer-focus
Excel at creative troubleshooting
Leadership
Manage their time and commitments
Prioritize needs
