Operational Support Manager

dnata is one of the world’s largest air and travel services providers, offering ground handling, cargo, travel and catering & retail services at over 130 airports in more than 30 countries across six continents. At dnata, we are by your side for the entire travel experience. dnata Catering and Retail is one of the world’s leading in-flight hospitality providers, delivering world-class culinary services and innovative products that enhance our passengers’ experience.

We are currently seeking a Training & Administration Manager who will proactively manage the training and skilling requirements for the business in line with company, legal, and airline standards. The Training & Administration Manager will also actively maintain an effective and productive support team, enabling the operation to focus on delivering to our customers.

Some of the key responsibilities and focuses in this role are as follows:

• Strategy Involvement
  • Define and implement tactical steps to align to and achieve business goals.
  • Define strategy for training and skilling within the organisation to increase flexibility.
  • Define strategy for ensuring skills are reviewed periodically to ensure alignment with current business process.
  • Champion change initiatives and improvements with OPS Ex and ensure changes which impact on training are considered and training amended where required.
• Planning Horizon
  • Provide an annual learning plan for the business that provides the right level of capability, legal/regulatory compliance and builds flexibility within the organisation.
  • Plan and organise own work (and/or coordinate and supervise the tasks of subordinates) over a 1 day to 1-month planning horizon.
  • Ensure work is completed according to the daily work schedule, all costs are within agreed targets, and any issues are escalated to the Senior Operations Manager when necessary.
  • Plan and allocate work to team members ensuring on time delivery to internal and external customers whilst maximising productivity.
• Policy and Process
  • Enforce and ensure that policies and procedures are implemented and respected to guarantee efficient performance and compliance standards.
• Financial Management
  • Manage the spend within approved budgets and set targets for areas of responsibility aiming at maximising the usage of resources, controlling costs and increasing profitability.
• Continuous Improvement
  • Implement agreed-upon improvements of systems, processes, and practices to maximise business efficiencies in line with agreed targets.
  • Analyse, report on analytics and recommend procedural improvements to support business strategies.
  • Proactively investigate all accidents/incidents/delays to determine root causes and implement appropriate solutions to prevent reoccurrence.
  • Champion change initiatives and improvements with OPS Ex.
• Governance & Controls
  • Responsible for overall governance and reporting of training adherence in line with legal and regulatory requirements.
  • Create and maintain an aligned deliverable-skill-training matrix and career pathway aligned to Operational requirement and Learning & Development capability.
  • Responsible for ensuring compliance to the required standards as set in ‘The dnata Way’ and local legislations are successfully met in all dealings pertaining to the area of responsibility, i.e., food safety, HACCP, and Health & Safety.
  • Adhering to all legislation, company policy, and compliance standards are met.
  • Managing the FTA drivers’ hours regulations.
  • Managing and ensuring all colleagues have a valid security training.
  • Managing Airside ID standards in line with HAL regulation.
• Managing Performance
  • Manage the team of Training Officers and the Operations Office.
  • Sets clear and measurable objectives for the team in line with the dnata framework and process.
  • Drives performance accountability and enables the team to achieve through appropriate support and resourcing, ensure that performance meets department’s requirements.
  • Monitor progress towards objectives.
• Reward & Recognition
  • Drive a high-performance culture (in line with the ‘The dnata way’ limits) and effectively utilise the organisation’s reward and recognition initiatives.
• Talent Management
  • Provide leadership, coaching, and training to the team while dealing with employee relations issues according to company policy.
• Safety
  • Lead with safety as a priority, ensuring all decisions are made with safety in mind.
  • Role model safety behaviours, oversee health, safety, and hygiene standards, and hold team members accountable for fulfilling their roles in accordance with dnata’s safety rules and best practices.
• Behaviour
  • Act as a role model for the leadership team and wider organisation in all people and customer interactions.
  • Work in collaboration with Planning and the Team Leader to ensure that rosters, work schedules, and teams are managed effectively in a fair and transparent method.
  • Provide leadership, coaching, and training to the team, dealing with employee relations issues according to company policy.
• Risk Awareness & Responsibility
  • Act in the best interest of the company always, ensures all business decisions are made based on authority level limits and after the appropriate level of due diligence and risk analysis has been carried out.
• Customers
  • Ensure standards of external and internal customer service are met, with effective pro-active communication with all internal and external key stakeholders.
  • Deal with all customers’ interactions as required, investigate and manage complaints in line with SLA’s.
• Problem-Solving
  • Proactively investigate all accidents/incidents/delays to determine the root cause and provide solutions to prevent further reoccurrences.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of solutions after implementation and take further corrective action where required, including escalating issues as appropriate.

If you believe your skills and experience align with what we’re looking for, we encourage you to apply — we’d love to hear from you!