Release Manager - Kohler Ventures

Work Mode: Hybrid

Location: Hybrid, 3 days/week onsite at New York City, NY (Midtown Manhattan) or Palo Alto, CA

Opportunity

Kohler Ventures is an independent company wholly-owned by Kohler Co., a global leader in the manufacture of kitchen and bath products, tile and home interiors, and an international host to award-winning hospitality and world-class golf destinations. Our mission is to build new digital businesses that empower consumers to lead healthier lives. We explore how familiar experiences can be enhanced and innovations developed through the integration of leading-edge technology, science, and design. Come join us as we build a best-in-class global multi-disciplinary team across artificial intelligence, machine learning, design, advanced software and hardware engineering, strategy, venture investments, sales, marketing, and partnerships. Our locations are Palo Alto, CA US, New York City, NY US, Kohler, WI US, Seoul, Korea, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

We are seeking a highly organized and technically adept Release Manager to lead and coordinate the release lifecycle across software, firmware, hardware, and machine learning. This role is critical in ensuring seamless integration and delivery of complex, multi-disciplinary products that power our next-generation connected solutions. You will work closely with engineering, product management, quality assurance, and operations teams to manage dependencies, mitigate risks, and deliver high-quality releases on time.

In your role as Release Manager at Kohler Ventures you will:

• Release Planning & Coordination
• Own the end-to-end release process across software, firmware, hardware, and ML pipelines.
• Define and manage release schedules, milestones, and gates in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Coordinate release readiness reviews, go/no-go decisions, and post-release retrospectives.
• Cross-Disciplinary Integration
• Ensure alignment between software, firmware, hardware, and algorithmic components.
• Manage versioning, compatibility, and integration testing across disciplines.
• Collaborate with MLOps teams to integrate model training, validation, and deployment into the release pipeline.
• Process & Tooling
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and release automation tools.
• Implement best practices for release governance, change control, and rollback strategies.
• Drive continuous improvement in release processes and tooling.
• Risk & Quality Management
• Identify and mitigate release risks, including technical debt, resource constraints, and cross-team dependencies.
• Ensure compliance with quality standards, regulatory requirements, and security protocols.
• Partner with QA and validation teams to ensure robust testing coverage.
• Communication & Documentation
• Serve as the central point of contact for all release-related communications.
• Maintain detailed release documentation, including release notes, deployment guides, and change logs.
• Provide regular updates to stakeholders and leadership on release status and issues.
  
  
  

Skills/Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field from a reputable institution
• 3 years of experience in release management or technical program management.
• Experience managing releases across software, firmware, and hardware domains.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD, version control (Git), and AWS DevOps practices.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience with tools like Jira, Confluence, Jenkins, ArgoCG, and Github Actions.
• Travel requirements: 10% both domestic and international as needed.
• Availability to work outside of standard business hours as needed to be able to collaborate with teams across multiple time zones.
  
  
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in regulated industries (e.g., automotive, consumer electronics, medical devices).
• Knowledge of embedded systems, edge computing, or real-time operating systems.
• Familiarity with Agile, Scrum, and SAFe methodologies.
• Familiarity with MLOps practices and tools (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow, SageMaker).
  
  
  

Applicants must be authorized to work in the US without requiring sponsorship now or in the future.

The base salary range for this position is $85,800 - $107,250. The specific salary offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors including the candidate’s experience, their education, and the work location. This position is subject to Area Salary Differential (Cost of Living Adjustment) that ranges from 16% of base salary for NYC metro area. The approved base salary range including ASD for this position is $99,528 - 128,934 depending on location. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision & 401k

Why Choose Kohler?

We empower each associate to #BecomeMoreAtKohler with a competitive total rewards package to support your health and wellbeing, access to career growth and development opportunities, a diverse and inclusive workplace, and a strong culture of innovation. With more than 30,000 bold leaders across the globe, we’re driving meaningful change in our mission to help people live gracious, healthy, and sustainable lives.

About Us

It is Kohler’s policy to recruit, hire, and promote qualified applicants without regard to race, creed, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. If, as an individual with a disability, you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please contact kohlerjobs@kohler.com . Kohler Co. is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.