diff --git a/Jenkinsfile.release b/Jenkinsfile.release
index fe7af4be7f..aa012d398d 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile.release
+++ b/Jenkinsfile.release
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ pipeline {
     agent {
         docker { image 'pegasyseng/pantheon-build:0.0.2' }
     }
+    parameters {
+        string(name: 'BRANCH_NAME', defaultValue: 'master', description: '[MANDATORY] The name of the branch to create the release from')
+        string(name: 'RELEASE_VERSION', defaultValue: '', description: '[OPTIONAL] When empty: defaults to the current project version')
+        string(name: 'NEXT_VERSION', defaultValue: '', description: '[OPTIONAL] When empty: defaults to next patch version after current project version')
+    }
+
     stages {
         stage('Release') {
             steps {
@@ -31,7 +37,21 @@ pipeline {
                             'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="pegasys.manager@gmail.com"'
                         ]) {
                             tryAddKnownHost('github.com')
-                            sh './gradlew release -Prelease.useAutomaticVersion=true -Prelease.releaseVersion=0.8.0-RC2 -Prelease.newVersion=0.8.0-SNAPSHOT'
+
+                             script{
+                                  releaseVersion = ''
+                                  if( params.RELEASE_VERSION?.trim() ){
+                                      releaseVersion = "-Prelease.releaseVersion=${params.RELEASE_VERSION}"
+                                 }
+
+                                  nextVersion = ''
+                                  if( params.NEXT_VERSION?.trim() ){
+                                      nextVersion = "-Prelease.newVersion=${params.NEXT_VERSION}"
+                                  }
+                              }
+
+
+                            sh "./gradlew release -Prelease.useAutomaticVersion=true -Prelease.branch=${params.BRANCH_NAME} ${releaseVersion} ${nextVersion}"
                         }
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/Jenkinsfile.release.branch b/Jenkinsfile.release.branch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..46e6ac7363
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Jenkinsfile.release.branch
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+void tryAddKnownHost(String hostUrl){
+    // ssh-keygen -F ${hostUrl} will fail (in bash that means status code != 0) if ${hostUrl} is not yet a known host
+    def statusCode = sh script:"ssh-keygen -F ${hostUrl}", returnStatus:true
+    if(statusCode != 0){
+        sh "mkdir -p ~/.ssh"
+        sh "ssh-keyscan ${hostUrl} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts"
+    }
+}
+
+pipeline {
+    agent {
+        docker { image 'pegasyseng/pantheon-build:0.0.2' }
+    }
+    parameters {
+            string(name: 'TAG_NAME', defaultValue: '', description: '[MANDATORY] Name of the Tag to create the branch from')
+            string(name: 'BRANCH_NAME', defaultValue: '', description: '[MANDATORY] The desired name of the new branch')
+    }
+    stages {
+        stage('Release') {
+            steps {
+                sshagent(
+                    credentials: ['pegasys-admin-github-ssh-private-key']
+                ) {
+                      withEnv([
+                        'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="PegaSys Admin"',
+                        'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="pegasys.manager@gmail.com"',
+                        'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="PegaSys Admin"',
+                        'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="pegasys.manager@gmail.com"'
+                       ]) {
+                        tryAddKnownHost('github.com')
+                        sh "./branch-from-tag.sh ${params.TAG_NAME} ${params.BRANCH_NAME}"
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/branch-from-tag.sh b/branch-from-tag.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8381f2e786
--- /dev/null
+++ b/branch-from-tag.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+
+#
+# Creates a new branch from a release tag, updating the gradle.properties version number.
+#
+# Assumed format of the version number: major.minor.bugfix
+# Assumed location of the version number: gradle.properties
+#
+# NOTE: Any additional markers after the bugfix (i.e. -RC2) will be lost.
+
+if [ -z "${1}" ]
+then
+  echo "[ERROR] Missing required first argument of tag name"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${2}" ]
+then
+  echo "[ERROR] Missing required second argument of branch name"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+
+tag_name=${1}
+branch_name=${2}
+
+# Locally create a branch from the tag
+git checkout -b ${branch_name} ${tag_name}
+
+# extract the version from gradle.properties
+tag_version=$(grep "^version" gradle.properties | cut -d'=' -f2)
+
+# Assuming semantic naming format of major.minor.bugfix[-RC|-SNAPSHOT|-other]
+major_version=$(echo ${tag_version} | cut -d'.' -f1)
+minor_version=$(echo ${tag_version} | cut -d'.' -f2)
+bugfix_version=$(echo ${tag_version} | cut -d'.' -f3 | cut -d'-' -f1)
+
+# Increment the bugfix version that goes on the new branch
+branch_bugfix_version=$((${bugfix_version}+1))
+
+# Reconstruct the version number for the branch
+branch_version="${major_version}.${minor_version}.${branch_bugfix_version}-SNAPSHOT"
+
+# Change the local gradle.properties version to branch version
+sed -i "s/${tag_version}/${branch_version}/g" gradle.properties
+
+# Update the Jenkins job default branch name
+sed -i "s/defaultValue: 'master'/defaultValue: '${branch_name}'/g" Jenkinsfile.release
+
+git commit -am"[Release Script] Updating version to ${branch_version}"
+git push --set-upstream origin ${branch_name}
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 3e44792a68..c63791a35d 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -419,9 +419,7 @@ release {
   ]
 
   git {
-    requireBranch = 'master'
-    pushToRemote = 'origin'
-    pushToBranchPrefix = project.version.replace('SNAPSHOT','')
+    requireBranch = project.hasProperty('release.branch') ? project.property('release.branch') : 'master'
   }
 }