job.yaml:
    publishers:
        - groovy-postbuild: "manager.addShortText(\"${manager.build.buildVariables.get('ZUUL_BRANCH')}\")"

job-template.yaml
    publishers:
        - groovy-postbuild: "manager.addShortText(\"${manager.build.buildVariables.get('ZUUL_BRANCH')}\")"

job-template.yaml jenkins-jobs test output:
  File "/home/jenkins/goldengate/lib/python2.7/site-packages/jenkins_jobs/builder.py", line 99, in deep_format
    raise JenkinsJobsException(desc)
jenkins_jobs.errors.JenkinsJobsException: manager parameter missing to format manager.addShortText("${manager.build.buildVariables.get('ZUUL_BRANCH')}")