Job Details
Hours: 37.5 Monday to Friday (with flying)
Location: Hybrid remote working in our VHQ, Crawley (with time also spent at LHR)
Contract: Permanent
Closing Date: Thursday, 14th November
In a nutshell
As the Vice President - Flight Operations, you will be responsible for our pilot workforce by ensuring safe flight operations supported by strong standards and compliance management. Your role involves offering mentorship, leadership, and support to all team members, managing direct reports, and identifying potential talent for growth. You will foster engagement with our pilots through regular communication, while setting high standards and ensuring policies are applied with fairness and Just Culture Safety principles.
Guiding the strategy for industrial relations with BALPA, you will take charge of planning and participating in governance meetings and working constructively with the leadership of the VACC. Additionally, you will coordinate technical elements of flight operations to ensure the safety and security of flights throughout the year. Your tasks will involve ensuring that the required numbers of pilots are being recruited and trained , overseeing standards and compliance for Flight Operations, managing budgets, and fulfilling formal postholder responsibilities as the Nominated Post Holder for Flight Operations at VAA and VAIL.
Day to day
- Ensure the smooth execution of Virgin Atlantic’s flight operations, maintaining safety, security, and regulatory compliance. and customer service. Drive on-time performance, fuel conservation, and efficiency.
- Cultivate capabilities and foster positive relationships across operational teams. Lead operational delivery efforts through daily meetings and collaborative planning sessions. Identify and implement process improvements.
- Lead regular communications and be visiblewith the pilot workforce. Collaborate with counterparts at other airlines and industry groups.
- Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and coordinate aircraft transfers. Lead and empower the Flight Operations team, recognise achievements, and manage performance.
- Manage establishment requirements, through designing future flying recruitment and training programs to align crew resources to the required establishment and ensure robust delivery. Foster links between operational and commercial teams.
About you
Are you an experienced Pilot, with strong leadership and decision-making capabilities under pressure? Do you possess excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to influence and include others in your thinking? Then this could be the role for you!
Alongside the above, we're looking for the following:
- Proven track record of managing Flight Operations processes, leading large groups of pilots and interfacing with the Regulator as a Nominated Person Flight Operations or similar relevant experience.
- Extensive experience dealing with Pilot Industrial Relations, handling disputes and negotiating pay deals and/or CLA adjustments.
- Ability to lead and take decisions in a high-stress environment that requires imminent actions to support the operational programme execution.
- Attention to detail and excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong commercial awareness and ability to see “the big picture.”
- Experience in report writing, facilitating workshops, and presenting to senior leadership.
- Extensive knowledge of aviation legislation, policy, and procedures.
- Ability to use initiative, work independently, and mediate challenging situations.
Does the above sound like you? then we'd love to hear from you!
Interview Process:
- 15th - 19th November - VP Psychometric Profiling through Alumni Global to be completed
- 20th or 21st November call with Alumni Global
- W/C 25th November - Interview with Dave Geer and Corneel Koster
- December ( date TBC) - Interview with Becky Woodmansee (Chief People Officer) and Shai
Internal info
Hiring manager: Dave GeerGlobal grade: G
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Be yourself
Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We celebrate difference and everything that makes our colleagues unique by upholding an inclusive environment in which we can all thrive. So that everyone at Virgin Atlantic can be themselves and know they belong.
To make your journey with us accessible and individual to you, we encourage you to let us know if you’d like a little extra help with your application, or if you have any individual requirements at any stage along your recruitment journey. We are here to support you, so please reach out to our team, ([email protected]) feeling confident that we’ve got your individual considerations covered.