Change and Release Manager

Who we are:

Allwyn is a multi-national lottery operator with leading market positions in Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  Our primary focus is lotteries, helping them raise more for good causes.  We drive innovation, efficiency, and safety across our casual gaming entertainment platform in the quest for enhanced player engagement.

Allwyn North America is headquartered in Chicago, and currently operates the Illinois Lottery under a private management agreement while seeking other opportunities throughout the U.S.  We also provide products and services to lotteries and their players throughout Europe and the United States

About the Team:

The Business Ops & Technology team utilizes the latest technological trends to effectively build and manage solutions in an informal, open and collaborative environment.

Position Overview:

Within Allwyn North America, the Change and Release Manager is responsible for developing and managing Change and Release policies and processes, acting as lead/gatekeeper for all systems supported by Allwyn IT and its suppliers ensuring that all requests are managed and completed within SLA.  They will implement and manage the Problem Management operation, and manage to resolve problems that include high-impact and high priority incidents to ensure minimal impact to the business.

Responsibilities:

• Provide “Gatekeeper” protection of Allwyn North America IT systems, services and applications.
• Implement and manage Allwyn’s Change and Release policies and procedures aligned with ISO 2000.
• Work with Project Management to identify resources required to implement any new releases, to assess the impact and risks of new services introduced into the live environments and to develop an SLA for any new service being introduced.
• Perform risk and impact assessments to ensure that all potential issues are identified and either mitigated or accepted by the business before any implementation.
• Manage the effective rollout of software and regulated hardware into the live environment.
• Communicate with the business to evaluate the potential business risk of each release and change, communicating conflicts, enabling expectations to be managed and decisions made on required resource.
• Work with other IT support managers to proactively maintain channels of communication and resolve.
• Contribute to the operations plan and BAU service delivery objectives.
• Utilize key performance indicators, conduct reviews for process effectiveness, establish ongoing quality improvements, apply quality standards, audit for performance and achievements.
• Ensure that there is consistent quality applied to release management by working with the internal and external auditing departments, to identify areas of development and then follow up by implementing any agreed-upon actions.
• Work closely with all key internal and external support teams to ensure that high priority incidents are managed and to proactively identify potential problems and resolve before they have an impact on the business.
• Organize the problem management resources to best meet the support, project and other resource needs and priorities of the business.

Requirements

​Required:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent related experience.
• Three plus years of relevant experience with any of the following:  Change, Problem, and/or Release Management.
• Strong analytical & problem solving skills.
• Knowledge and practical experience of service management.

Preferred:

• Knowledge of project management methodologies.
• Experience of ITIL to foundation level.
• Understanding of Knowledge Base Management.
• Prior experience working in a leadership capacity.
• Understanding of the hardware and software that is utilized within infrastructure.
• Experience of monitoring progress and resolution of problems and known errors.
• Experience of working with major incident managers to identify root causes, advising on solution and remedial actions, during and after a major incident.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Must be a team player, able to effectively and collaboratively work with and through others, at all levels in the organization.

Benefits

Working for Allwyn North America:

Our goal is to create one of North America’s most inclusive organizations – where people can bring the best of themselves, to do their best work, everyday, for the benefit of good causes.  While the main contribution of the Lottery to society is through the funds to good causes, at Allwyn we put our purpose and values at the heart of everything we do.  That’s why we have committed to an ambitious Social Value strategy, which is woven into the way we do business.  We believe that lotteries must serve everyone, not just those who play.  So, whether as an employee, a supplier, a retailer or any of the stakeholders that we interact with, we will be powering good across the US.

The Allwyn values of We Do What is Right, We Win Together and We Think Differently, are embedded in the design of our organization and our plans for North America.

• We Do What is Right: By acting with integrity, making brave decisions, taking accountability, and accepting responsibility. 
• We Win Together: By working together as one team, always empowering our colleagues, valuing our differences, and respecting each other. We are always seeking opportunities to create business value while enjoying our work and having fun together.
• We Think Differently: By accepting feedback, listening to our peers, striving for improvement and always daring to innovate. We always deliver with passion and have broad horizons.

Moreover, we pledge to have the highest standards of respect, diversity and inclusion at our company and support and encourage our partners to do the same.

Allwyn North America is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.