DescriptionJob overview and responsibilitiesThe Director leads end to end technology strategy and execution for Above-the-Wing Airport Operations platforms, powering mission-critical systems across 300+ airports worldwide. Drive transformation toward an AI-first delivery strategy, embedding intelligence, automation, and real-time decisioning into applications. Own delivery and performance of applications ensuring high availability, resilience, and operational continuity. Serve as a liason between business and technology, shaping strategy in partnership with business and technology partners. Champion a modern engineering culture grounded in continuous improvement to accelerate innovation while reducing risk.
- Strategy, vision, and stakeholder management:
- Define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap aligned to Airport Operation's strategic goals
- Proactively identify and evaluate new strategic IT capabilities, including AI tools and processes, to enhance the delivery and performance of the programs
- Shape the future of airport technology through emerging capabilities infused with telemetry & sensor data
- Establish governance that balances speed, risk, and value delivery, ensuring alignment to enterprise architecture and security standards
- Act as a strategic advisor to senior leadership, influencing investment decisions, prioritization, and long-range planning
- Stay abreast of industry trends and introduce innovative technologies and partnerships that create competitive advantage
- Communication and Stakeholder management:
- Serve as the point of accountability for Above the Wing technology delivery for Airport Operations leadership
- Translate complex technical concepts into clear business outcomes, risks, and tradeoffs for executive audiences
- Build deep partnerships with business, product, and cross-channel teams
- Drive alignment across engineering, product, infrastructure, security, and vendor teams to ensure seamless execution at scale
- Lead executive-level communications including roadmaps, performance metrics, incident reviews, and funding investments
- Strategic Project Delivery and technology management:
- Lead delivery of complex, enterprise-scale programs ensuring on-time, on-budget, high-quality execution aligned to business outcomes.
- Own and evolve the software development lifecycle (SDLC) with a focus on AI-augmented development and embedding security into every stage
- Compliance with TSA, PCI, and enterprise security standards
- Establish best in class observability and reliability practices with full instrumentation and real-time analytics
- Lead data-driven decision making, identifying and evaluating key metrics to drive program success criteria
- Ensure system reliability and resilience with systems designed for high availability, fault tolerance, modern release strategies, and a goal of zero downtime
- Lead cloud transformation initiatives leveraging AWS, microservices, and distributed architectures
- Optimize delivery through agile and continuous improvement frameworks
- Manage vendor partner ecosystem to ensure performance, accountability, and innovation
- Leadership:
- Build, lead, and inspire high-performing teams across engineering, product, and delivery functions.
- Develop a next-generation workforce skilled in AI, cloud, automation, and modern engineering practices.
- Foster a culture of ownership and accountability, innovation and experimentation, continuous learning and improvement
- Lead organizational design and workforce strategy to support scalability, speed, and evolving business needs.
- Balance operational excellence with innovation, ensuring teams can run the business while transforming it.
This role is Hybrid to Chicago or Houston.
QualificationsWhat's needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):- Bachelor's degree in Computer science, Supply Chain or related field
- 8+ years of relevant experience
- 5+ years of management experience in an IT or leadership-related role Requires advanced technical and business knowledge in software development life cycle, quality assurance, project management, and other related disciplines/processes
- Experience with application development or product ownership
- Experience with Agile development
- Experience with cloud delivery
- Experience with REACT, HTML, JavaScript, .net, and document databases required
- In-depth understanding of application development processes, methodologies, and lifecycle management.
- Strong program management / execution & delivery skills required.
- Strong grasp of business operations and the ability to translate business needs into IT solutions.
- Knowledge of financial principles to manage budgets, forecast costs, and deliver cost-effective solutions.
- Expereince with implementing Agile project delivery
- Ability to develop and present business cases to senior management and stakeholders.
- Excellent communication skills to effectively liaise with technical teams and business leaders.
- Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external partners, vendors, and service providers.
- Collaboration skills to work across different departments and foster a team-oriented environment
- Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
- Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
- Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position
What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):- Master's degree preferred
- Experience in application development delivery of large scale projects/programs.
- Experience using and applying Lean principles to improve IT operations
- Experience implementing IT solutions in the airline industry a plus
- Experience with cloud delivery
