The role: Flight Crew Manager
At British Airways, delivering a safe and reliable operation does not stop at planning – it depends on strong, supportive leadership across our Flight Operations community. Our Flight Crew Managers play a vital role in creating an environment where our pilots can perform at their best, ensuring every flight is underpinned by safety, professionalism, and operational excellence.
Work pattern:
There is a limited amount of shift‑based work as part of this role. It requires, on average, one weekend of work per ten weeks and one week of early starts (0600‑1400) or late finishes (1400‑2200) per ten weeks. The working pattern is otherwise flexible, with four days in a BA location (Waterside, CRC or LGW, depending on fleet) as standard. Shift‑based roles attract an additional allowance.
What you’ll do:
- Leading and managing a large team of pilots, supporting them across all aspects of their role and career journey
- Promoting a strong culture of safety, wellbeing, and inclusion, ensuring pilots feel supported and engaged
- Managing complex people matters, including performance, attendance, and operational issues, in line with business needs
- Acting as a key point of contact between the pilot community and wider Flight Operations teams on people‑related matters
- Supporting pilots following operational incidents or personal challenges, providing appropriate guidance and care
- Overseeing and delivering key people processes, including return‑to‑work discussions, absence reviews and policy application
- Ensuring compliance with safety, regulatory and corporate policies, including fitness to operate and training requirements
- Driving operational effectiveness by supporting improvements to procedures, safety standards and day‑to‑day operations
What you’ll bring to British Airways:
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust and influence a large, diverse pilot community
- A resilient and calm approach, with the confidence to manage complex situations and perform under pressure
- Proven ability to coach, develop and motivate colleagues to deliver high performance
- Sound judgement and decision‑making skills, with the ability to balance people needs with operational priorities
- The confidence to handle challenging conversations and manage conflict effectively
- A flexible, organised mindset, able to prioritise and adapt quickly in an operationally critical environment
Your experience:
- Experience of people management in an airline context or similar operational role – Essential
- Experienced people manager of large, diverse operational team – Essential
- Experience of managing/supporting Trade Union relationships – Essential
- Proficient in using IT Systems including Office 365 – Essential
- Able to hold an airside pass – Essential
- Strong working knowledge of corporate policies – Desirable
- Strong working knowledge of Bidline Rules and MOA – Desirable
- Strong working knowledge of BA Operations Manuals – Desirable
What we offer:
We believe that all the people who work with us should feel valued for the part they play. It’s one of the reasons our rewards go far beyond a competitive salary.
From the day you join us, you’ll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways flights. You’ll also receive up to 30 discounted “Hotline” airfares per year for yourself, friends, and family.
At British Airways you’ll have the chance to take on new challenges and move forward in a way that feels right for you. We encourage all those who work for us to consider opportunities right across our business to help you develop and progress.
Inclusion & Diversity
At British Airways we all have a part to play in creating an inclusive place to work. Diverse representation among our people is really important to us and we recognise that all our colleagues are uniquely different and bring their own originality, creativity and identity to work.
Inclusion and diversity is a key driver of innovation and we’re committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they can be themselves. We’re looking for people from all backgrounds and cultures to join us and be a part of our journey to become a Better BA as we continue to connect Britain with the world and the world with Britain.
