WorkCover Queensland is entering an exciting new chapter, guided by a renewed strategic focus and strong executive leadership shaping our 2030 Strategy. We’re embarking on an enterprise-wide transformation to strengthen our impact and continue making a positive difference in people’s lives. 

About the Role

We are seeking an IT Release & Environment Lead to play a pivotal role in strengthening our release practices, environment stability and how change is introduced into production across the organisation.

Reporting to the Manager, Change & Transition, the Lead, Release & Environment operates as the practice owner for Release and Environment Management balancing practice leadership with hands-on execution – shaping how Release & Environment Management is done, while actively coordinating and stepping into delivery to ensure outcomes are achieved.

You will provide strong leadership, set direction and act as a trusted authority across delivery, engineering, testing and operations, while also taking ownership of complex or high-risk releases and environment management activities. The role carries a strong voice in go / no‑go decisions, a high degree of autonomy, and the empowerment to shape, evolve and run the practice.

This is a highly visible role that sits at the intersection of release governance, environment management and operational readiness. You will influence outcomes through stakeholder engagement, strategic decision‑making and effective governance — while also ensuring releases and environments are actively managed, controlled and delivered to a high standard in practice.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead the Release & Environment Management practice, setting standards, direction and ways of working across the organisation.
• Own and coordinate end-to-end release and environment activities, including planning, scheduling, dependency management and issue resolution across delivery streams.
• Act as a key decision‑maker in release readiness and go / no‑go forums, balancing delivery momentum with risk and customer experience.
• Lead operational readiness governance, ensuring services are stable, supportable and genuinely production‑ready before release approval.
• Partner closely with senior stakeholders across technology, delivery and operations to align release outcomes with business priorities and experience expectations.
• Influence and guide delivery teams to improve how change is introduced into production, embedding operational thinking early in delivery lifecycles.
• Establish and maintain clear frameworks, controls and acceptance criteria for release and environment readiness.
• Identify systemic release, environment and operational risks and drive enterprise‑level improvements, not just point solutions.
• Facilitate readiness reviews, retrospectives and lessons‑learned forums to continuously raise release quality and reliability.
• Champion shared ownership, accountability and operational excellence across teams.
• Strengthen knowledge transfer, documentation and support transition practices to ensure sustainable operations post‑release.

About You

You are a practice‑minded leader who is equally comfortable setting direction and getting hands-on to ensure outcomes are delivered. You bring the credibility and confidence to influence senior stakeholders, challenge decisions where required and take ownership of results – not just process. You understand that successful releases are as much about governance, engagement and decision‑making as they are about execution. You are comfortable operating with autonomy and accountability, stepping in when needed to stabilise releases, resolve issues and ensure delivery confidence.

You bring:

• Significant experience leading release, environment or operational readiness practices within complex enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated ability to balance practice leadership with hands-on delivery coordination & execution.
• A strong ability to influence, negotiate and engage stakeholders across delivery, engineering, operations and leadership levels.
• Proven experience owning release readiness decisions, including accountability for risk, timing and customer impact.
• A strategic mindset, with the ability to design and evolve frameworks that scale across multiple teams and portfolios.
• Strong communication skills, with the confidence to provide clear recommendations and challenge constructively when required.
• A collaborative, outcome‑focused leadership style with a passion for continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Working knowledge of DevOps and CI/CD practices, with familiarity across tools such as Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins or GitLab.
• Practical understanding of modern technology platforms, including cloud environments, containerisation and infrastructure‑as‑code, sufficient to engage credibly with engineering teams. 

A Bit About Us 

Our vision is to be the best workers’ compensation insurer, making a positive difference to people’s lives and keeping Queenslanders working. We turn care into action, act with integrity, and work together to unlock what’s possible. If you value empathy, collaboration, and continuous improvement, you’ll find a great community at WorkCover.  

At WorkCover, we deliver with heart, own our outcomes, work best together and stay open to what’s possible - and we’re looking for people who share these values. Working in a collaborative team environment within a supportive and engaged organisation, you’ll enjoy access to personalised learning and development opportunities and the holistic support of our health and wellbeing program. We offer industry‑competitive salaries, a generous superannuation scheme (including co‑contribution) and study assistance. You can find out more about our Employee Benefits by visiting Working at WorkCover Qld.   

How do I apply? 

If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you. 

We are committed to ensuring WorkCover reflects the diversity of the Queensland community. We welcome applications from First Nations peoples, members of the LGBTQIA+SB community, people of all ages, people who are neurodivergent, people with disability, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. 

To ensure you have the best and most inclusive experience, please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments or accommodations to help you confidently showcase your skills and potential. You can contact us at recruitment@workcoverqld.com.au or let our recruitment team know during your conversation with them. 

Pre-employment checks will be conducted on all prospective employees. This includes a Right to Work in Australia Check, Police Check, Education Check, Reference Check, and where appropriate a Visa Check. The information provided will be treated as confidential in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld).