Job overview and responsibilities The Senior Manager of Pilot Plan Production leads the two teams that develop the monthly pairings from Network Planning schedules and the monthly pilot schedules and awards. The Senior Manager serves as the lead stakeholder across the planning production cycle to ensure we execute in alignment with the broader Flight Ops staffing and operational goals, manage through constraints in the system, utilize our custom tools to maximize efficiency, and ensure we are partnering with key stakeholders across United to deliver a well-executed plan each month. Through partnership with Workforce Planning, Flight Training Scheduling, Network Planning, Fatigue Management, Digital Technology, and pilot union leadership, this role navigates building schedules that are UPA and FAR compliant and delivering awards to the pilots that set up our pilots and operation for a successful month. This role leads a team of nine planners through the two managers. The Senior Manager of Pilot Plan Production is a vital member of the integrated planning effort that allows us to deliver an efficient, reliable, and strategic plan each month to support one of United's most critical resources - our 18,000+ pilots!
- Lead the team through the monthly plan production cycle including schedule construction, pairings investment decision making, reserve profile execution, award bidding and optimization, and more, while ensuring close coordination, accuracy and contractual adherence to achieve the plan's expectations
- Work cross-functionally throughout United (e.g., Workforce Planning, Network Planning, Training Scheduling, Fatigue Management, Digital Technology, union leadership) to ensure viability and efficiency of pilot pairings and awards, identify opportunities to improve efficiency, and advance long term collaborative efforts for training, staffing, and qualification needs
- Manages two teams, responsible for supporting their growth, development, and advancement of technological capabilities with new data insights and strategic objectives
- Develop the group's capabilities of data management, visualizations, and learnings from each successive pilot award schedule to enhance our future plans, including crew preference learnings, measuring success of each category's monthly awards, and analyzing monthly reserve coverage for the operation.
Qualifications What's needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications): - Bachelor's degree or 4 years of relevant work experience (Field of Study; Aviation/Aeronautics, Supply Chain, Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Engineering, Business, Computer Sciences, Logistics/Transportation, or related fields)
- 5+ years of either: A) airline experience, majority financial and/or resource planning, or B) Professional Advisory serving airline clients with engagements across supply chain, resource planning, operational efficiency, or continuous improvement Minimum 3 years of experience working in aviation
- Leadership mindset that thinks strategically, connects dots, identifies opportunities for improvement
- Strong communication skills, ability to develop a common purpose and drive influence
- Strong leadership skills, ability to rally a team across a common purpose, fostering a positive team culture
- Experience engaging with senior leaders, presenting complex concepts succinctly, and anticipating questions to ensure clarity
- Excel proficiency and strong data analysis skills
- Self-starter, ability to handle concurrent projects and prioritize multiple competing demands, managing the matching of resources with workload, and managing up status updates without follow-up.
What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications): - Workforce scheduling or planning experience
- Airline/aviation business experience
- Data querying and modelling skills
- Experience with airline planning and scheduling software (Jeppesen, Sabre, Navblue, or other)
- Data Visualization dashboards (e.g. Power BI)
