MD, Technical Operations Planning

Intro

Are you ready to explore a world of possibilities, both at work and during your time off? Join our American Airlines family, and you’ll travel the world, grow your expertise, and become the best version of you. As you embark on a new journey, you’ll tackle challenges with flexibility and grace, learning new skills and advancing your career while having the time of your life. Feel free to enrich both your personal and work life and hop onboard!

Why you'll love this job

The Managing Director of Technical Operations Planning is an executive leadership role responsible for the strategic planning, scheduling, and routing optimization of American Airline's entire mainline aircraft fleet (over 1,000 aircraft). The Managing Director leads long-range structural heavy check and retrofit planning, line maintenance planning and scheduling/routing, and supports real time operational recovery, while maintaining strict compliance with federal regulations and enterprise goals. This position bridges the gap between commercial priorities and technical execution, ensuring the airline meets aircraft availability targets.

What you'll do

This list is intended to reflect the current job but there may be additional essential functions (and certainly non-essential job functions) that are not referenced.  Management will modify the job or require other tasks be performed whenever it is deemed appropriate to do so, observing, of course, any legal obligations including any collective bargaining obligations.

Strategic Long-Range and Base Maintenance Planning

• Long-Range Forecasting: Lead the long-range maintenance forecasting effort for American, including heavy maintenance checks cycles, multi-year aircraft retrofit programs, and the planning of Engineering reliability mods, Airworthiness Directives, and other required maintenance work


• MRO Infrastructure & Strategy: Direct the airline's blended global vendor model, evaluating and balancing internal hub capabilities against complex third-party Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) global suppliers and engine programs


• Heavy Check & Base Plan: Lead the teams that strategically optimize heavy check visits and bill of work, working across engineering, supply chain, and production to ensure aircraft readiness and availability to the network and minimize aircraft out-of-service (AOS) during peak season


• Budget and Resource Management: Oversee budgeting of track allocations and associated staffing levels, and resource allocations, partnering with the base maintenance organization


• Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Coordinate closely with Flight Operations, Network Planning, Material Planning, and Engineering through the planning life cycle


• Base and Line Maintenance infrastructure: Lead the long-range Hangar strategy and associated maintenance footprint for the airline, partnering with Corporate Real Estate, Finance, and Government Affairs

Line Maintenance Planning & Operations

• Line Capacity Planning: Continuously evaluate staffing levels and capabilities across all line maintenance stations in partnership with the line maintenance production team, ensuring balanced daily, weekly, monthly bill of work to drive maintenance throughput and reduce Aircraft Out of Service risks


• Workforce Planning & Optimization: Design predictive labor models that align headcounts across global line maintenance hubs directly against seasonal flight schedules; implementation of advanced shift bidding optimization framework; ensure workforce plans maps exactly to active labor contracts


• Overnight Maintenance Scheduling: Set the strategic allocation of overnight workloads across outstations and hub maintenance bases, matching labor capacity and hangar space with scheduled line check requirements


• Short-Term Routing Optimization: Oversee the daily dynamic routing of aircraft to ensure they meet recurring line maintenance checks (e.g., A-checks, daily, and overnight checks) with minimal disruption to the live flight schedule


• MEL and Deferred Maintenance Management: Partner with the Maintenance Operations Center (MOC) to aggressively monitor and track Minimum Equipment List (MEL) entries, Configuration Deviation Lists (CDL), and deferred items to ensure prompt resolution within regulatory timeframes


• Advanced Technology Vision: Spearhead the implementation of next-generation enterprise asset management infrastructures, predictive AI diagnostics, automated scheduling & advanced routing capabilities, partnering with the Maintenance product and IT teams

All you'll need for success

Minimum Qualifications – Education & Prior Job Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience; Advanced degree preferred


• 10 years of progressive leadership experience managing cross-departmental teams


• 10 years of overall experience with progressive responsibility in Airline Operations, Planning, Scheduling, or equivalent role


• In-depth knowledge of the airline industry and/or technical operations, American Airlines (AA) business strategy, company policies and procedures, and collective bargaining agreements


• Proven success in leading Operations planning team and implementing strategic initiatives at scale, driving efficiency and reliability


• Prior experience in maintenance planning is a plus

Skills, Licenses, and Certifications

• Demonstrates the highest standards of personal ethics and integrity


• Action oriented, results-driven leader with a natural aptitude for engaging team members across multiple workgroups


• Excellent quantitative and analytical skills with an aptitude for complex problem solving


• Ability to identify opportunities for improvement, demonstrated critical thinking, and ability to manage change


• Ability to think strategically, negotiate skillfully, digest complex details, and use sound judgment & initiative in making decisions


• Ability to successfully lead cross-functional projects within complex stakeholder environments


• Ability to drive results through collaboration and to facilitate effective relationships across different work groups and levels of the company


• Ability to be flexible in rapidly changing conditions and priorities, as well as to embrace ambiguity and enable clarity


• Excellent project planning and organizational skills, with ability to effectively and simultaneously manage multiple large projects within tight deadlines while maintaining attention to detail


• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with ability to handle complex topics comfortably and to interact effectively with all levels, both verbally and written


• Ability to coach, mentor, and serve as a role model for all team members

What you'll get

Feel free to take advantage of all that American Airlines has to offer:

• Travel Perks: Ready to explore the world? You, your family, and your friends can reach 365 destinations on more than 6,800 daily flights across our global network.


• Health Benefits: On day one, you’ll have access to your health, dental, prescription and vision benefits to help you stay well. And that’s just the start, we also offer virtual doctor visits, flexible spending accounts and more. 


• Wellness Programs: We want you to be the best version of yourself – that’s why our wellness programs provide you with all the right tools, resources and support you need.


• 401(k) Program: Available upon hire and, depending on the workgroup, employer contributions to your 401(k) program are available after one year.


• Additional Benefits: Other great benefits include our Member Assistance Program, pet insurance and discounts on hotels, cars, cruises and more.

Feel free to be yourself at American

From the team members we hire to the customers we serve, inclusion and diversity are the foundation of the dynamic workforce at American Airlines. Our 20+ Team Member Business Resource Groups are focused on connecting our team members to our customers, suppliers, communities and shareholders, helping team members reach their full potential and creating an inclusive work environment to meet and exceed the needs of our diverse world.

Are you ready to feel a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction as you do your part to keep the largest airline in the world running smoothly as we care for people on life’s journey? Feel free to be yourself at American.