Duty Director - Virgin Atlantic

Job Details

Salary: Competitive per annum plus excellent benefits

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Mon - Sun (typical shifts 0700 – 1900 & 1900-0700 on 4 on 4 off basis, flexibility required including scheduled office hours.

Location: The Base, Crawley

Closing date: 5th September 2019

In a nutshell

This is a fantastic opportunity for a Duty Director – OCC (Operations Control Centre) to manage, control and plan the Virgin Atlantic (VAA) flying program within the 14 days “Ops Window” ensuring its safe, secure and compliant delivery. You will be a leader, calm under pressure with an ability to grasp a variety of complex information, exceptional decision-making capability and able to lead diverse, cross functional teams during normal operations and sustained elevated alert levels including emergency situations.

As Duty Director you will have a passion for continuous improvement, challenging processes and procedures as appropriate and pro-actively recommending solutions that will deliver operational excellence. You will be a confident communicator, adept at conflict resolution while being able to hold people to account (irrespective of seniority) ensuring issues are addressed and rectified in the interests of a resilient, safe, efficient and customer focused operation.

Day to day

• Lead the OCC to deliver the scheduled flying program ensuring appropriate corrective action as required that drives a safe, on time operation that is regularity compliant within the rolling 14 day Operations window, often in pressurised, time critical situations/events.

• Actively engage with VAA departments outside the OCC and external agencies to support and deliver our schedule, supporting collaborative working practices and appropriate information sharing.

• Identify potential risks to our operations and customer experience within the 14 day window and pro-actively take steps that mitigate potential issues to prevent / minimise disruption and maintain our flying program.

• Prepare reports, operational updates and ensure Logs within the OCC are maintained accurately.

• Leading the company response to all emergency events until Amber/Red groups are activated (circa first 60 minutes), providing any appropriate assistance thereafter.

• Ensure that Customer Charter principles are considered and applied in the decision making process to deliver exceptional customer service including the consistent application of IROP’s and other check sheets.

• Act as final arbiter in resolving conflicts or disputes to ensure safety is maintained, delays minimised (and attributed correctly) and customer performance is optimised.

• Preparing and delivering presentations to foster collaborative working such as Pilots Ops groups, Commercial teams and pre-command courses etc (Internal) and Airport Operators/ATC and other airlines (e.g. Delta) that promote our operational capabilities and brand.

• Preparing and Chairing daily and elevated operations forums, reviewing previous 24hr performance, identifying issues and corrective measures required to continuously improve performance.

• Reviewing existing procedures for continued relevance and practicality, ensuring amendments are made appropriately and actively contributing to projects and working groups (both internal and external as required).

About you

As a Duty Director for the OCC you will have strong analytical and commercial acumen combined with in depth general aviation experience across multiple disciplines (particular focus in Operations, Safety and Security) and the ability to make consistently good, balanced decisions very quickly, under pressure. 

You will be a confident leader with strong communication, influencing and negotiating skills and great conflict resolution capability which you will apply equally with direct teams, other internal stakeholders (in a matrix environment), Pilots, Engineers and cabin crew plus external suppliers and regulatory authorities. 

An ambassador for the Virgin Brand, you will have an awareness of company strategy and objectives and strong understanding of broad regulatory requirements with a strong ability to quickly prioritise, devise and align creative operational decision making to resolve complex issues in a timely manner.

You will use a variety of Microsoft Packages and other systems such as OMS, Officer, IRMA etc, so strong ICT skills is key for this position. If the above sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

The perks

We recognise the value you add to our dynamic company. That's why we give our people the rewards that they deserve. We have a whole host of benefits to help you enjoy life to the full, including up to seven flights a year to a wide range of fabulous Virgin Atlantic destinations. Of course you can also take advantage of discounts on our amazing Virgin Holidays hotels. We also offer a competitive benefits package including pension and private medical schemes and life assurance. You can even self select whats important to you through our benefits portal. We appreciate that life is busy, so when operationally possible remote working is available.

Be Yourself - Our Differences make us stronger

Virgin Atlantic and Virgin holidays are committed equal opportunities employers and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible applicants regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy and maternity. Diversity brings strength which is why we strive to provide an inclusive environment where individuality is celebrated and we can unleash the potential of our forward-thinking mix of people.

To all recruitment agencies: Virgin Atlantic does not accept unsolicited agency CVs.