HBO Max is the future of entertainment and storytelling.



WarnerMedia’s new streaming entertainment offering, HBO Max is the culmination of some of the most innovative new technology and greatest creative talent in the industry. Anchored by the entire HBO service, arguably the greatest brand in television, HBO Max also features fan favorites from the WarnerMedia library including Warner Bros., New Line, DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes, and more. HBO Max will also be home to key third-party library acquisitions, such as Friends, South Park and Doctor Who, and more than 50 exclusive Originals in its first year, from the likes of groundbreaking creative talent such as J.J. Abrams, Ridley Scott, Jordan Peele, Steven Soderbergh, Michael Mann, Mindy Kaling, Reese Witherspoon, Anna Kendrick, Greg Berlanti, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Zemeckis, Ellen DeGeneres, and other visionaries. HBO Max launches in May 2020.



The Job



As Technical Program Manager in Release, the ideal candidate will know their process for releasing software, and be passionate about using, modeling, and teaching that process thereby increasing their teammate’s productivity. Should be able to influence the quality bar of the product in an organization where the quality bar is owned by engineer and design. As a Release Manager, you will know how to make the rational and thoughtful tradeoffs required in order to deliver a product while maintaining a healthy team and healthy business relationships.



The successful candidate will work closely with internal and external platform teams, Product Management, Design, quality assurance (QA), business managers, Marketing and the Digital Product’s leadership team to release HBO GO, HBO NOW and HBO MAX’s client portfolio across mobile, connected televisions, and desktop clients. In close partnership with Program Managers, development and leadership, the Release Manager will work to help define new release processes, work with external Client partners, and clearly communicate status of releases to all stakeholders. This resource will be able to embrace our Product-Focused culture and development philosophy by actively involving and engaging the entire team to drive Collaborative Cross-Functional solutions. Our self-organizing development teams need Release Management to help us scale delivery of our many platforms and help HBO Digital Products achieve our goals. To this end, the successful candidate must possess strong negotiation and cross-functional communication skills.



The Daily

• Shepard Releases in the later stages of the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC)
• Track and manage risks to Release timelines and drive resolutions
• Expertly manage cross-functional communication across teams
• Create problem statements and move from those to appropriate and data driven proposals, recommendations, and solutions. Then drive alignment across all stakeholders
• Work with cross-functional team leadership to establish goals and milestones that align with our requirements, raise risks and dependencies, and drive towards cross-team collaborative solutions
• Work with development teams to identify roadblocks before they occur and help develop mitigating plans of action
• Communicate the impact of feature or schedule changes to teams that are potentially affected
• Communicate how product-level goals fit into, and are influenced by, larger divisional goals, and how the team's work impacts the success or failure of the division
• Identify and document the requirements for a Release and get stakeholder sign-off

The Essentials

• 3 - 5 years of experience on multiple technical projects
• A minimum of 3 years prior experience in releasing clients via external partners (Apple, Amazon, Roku, Samsung, Google and Sony) on variety of platforms and/or service releases
• Strong knowledge of best practices in software development and release management
• Cloud based application PM/QA/RM experience focused on clients or services
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including negotiation and problem resolution in a cross-functional team
• Strong understanding of development methodologies including waterfall, agile, and scaled agile
• Strong problem solving and critical thinking skills
• Able to clearly, concisely, and regularly communicate status, issues, and risks to project stakeholders
• Experience working with large scale data collection, processing, analysis systems
• Systems thinking and a strong sense of ownership to drive complex programs with interdependencies that require definition from the ground up
• First-rate project management skills, including the ability to balance multiple, sometimes competing, priorities with date-driven timelines and a solid understanding of risk management
• Ability to travel up to once a quarter, largely to our New York City and LA offices

The Nice to Haves

• Entertainment or media industry experience
• Experience with Jenkins, Github, branching strategy is a plus
• Familiar with slack, email, web conferencing, Jira/Confluence
• Ability to learn new development and productivity tools in order to continuously improve effectiveness
• Bachelor's Degree or an advanced degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field preferred; software development experience is a plus

The Perks

• Exclusive WarnerMedia events and advance screenings
• Paid time off every year to volunteer
• Access to well-being tools, resources, and freebies
• Access to in-house learning and development resources
• Part of the WarnerMedia family of powerhouse brands

About Us



WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content from a diverse array of talented storytellers and journalists to global audiences through its consumer brands including: HBO, HBO Now, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC Entertainment, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others.

America's most successful premium television company, Home Box Office delivers two 24-hour pay television services—HBO®and Cinemax®. HBO continues to take advantage of the latest technological innovations with advancements that include the availability of HBO programming online though HBO GOSM and MAX GOSM , as well as HBO On Demand®. and Cinemax On Demand®. in HD. Just as HBO is a company noted for its commitment to excellence in the products and services it delivers to consumers, it makes the extra effort to create a work environment in which fairness, equity, trust, and individual responsibility are valued. HBO is committed to retaining and recruiting skilled and motivated employees, placing a priority on qualified team players who contribute to the diversity of their workforce. HBO offers competitive benefits to include medical, dental, vision, a matched 401(k) plan, flexible spending, a commuter benefit program and tuition reimbursement.