Operations Planning Manager

Are you an experienced Operations Planning professional with a passion for Resource Management?

This role is crucial in ensuring accurate and effective resource planning and delivery for line areas. You will lead the teams responsible for planning and delivering resources, creating manpower forecasts, and ensuring operational feasibility of resource plans. Additionally, you will act as a business partner for accountable line areas, lead teams, track against financial plans, and collaborate with Trade Unions to optimise resource allocation. You will also contribute to the design and implementation of transformation initiatives and work with product development on enhancing team tools.

This pivotal role plays a key part in the success of the business, reporting directly to the Head of Operations Planning. With accountability for shaping and delivering resource planning strategies, the position requires a highly skilled individual capable of driving operational excellence, influencing stakeholders, and leading key initiatives to meet business objectives. The role is integral to decision-making at the highest levels and ensures alignment with organisational goals and priorities.

What you’ll do:

• Lead a large team with up to 8 direct and 60 indirect reports to create a positive working environment and team culture.
• Ensure detailed and accurate operability plans across your area are implemented by driving the team in planning and delivering necessary resources from 5 years in advance until the day before operation.
• Collaborate with a variety of stakeholders to identify assumptions, identify efficiency-saving opportunities, and ensure operability numbers are met on the resource plans.
• Highlight risks and opportunities in both the long and short-term resource outlook, and mitigate risks where possible.
• Communicate the operational plan, risks, and mitigations to senior collaborators to advise upstream planning decisions.
• Own the delivery of resource plans for your areas, balancing network schedule, financial targets, operational requirements, training needs, and other business priorities which directly influence operational performance.
• Manage and lead a variety of transformation initiatives and change projects across the organisation.
• Support the team with modelling and analysis, including root-cause analysis and standard processes.
• Work closely with product development teams to gather requirements, develop processes, and test new tools.
• Collaborate with finance, recruitment, learning & development, product development, industrial relations, line area leadership, network, and the wider operations team.

What you’ll bring to us:

The successful candidate will be a proactive self-starter with an ambitious mentality, outstanding people leadership skills, and proven experience in successful team management. You must possess strong planning, numeracy, and analytical skills and have excellent communication skills to understand and convey problems concisely to both technical and non-technical audiences. Additionally, the role requires outstanding problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and the ability to handle ambiguity and successfully engage with collaborators at various levels.

Your experience:

The successful candidate will be educated to degree level (or hold an equivalent qualification or experience), have experience in modelling and analytics (Excel essential), strong stakeholder management skills, significant team management experience, and project management skills. They should ideally have experience of using tableau (or similar BI reporting tool), be highly IT literate and knowledge of product development and continuous improvement. Experience in management consulting, operations management and / or aviation is a plus.