F/A-18 Kuwait Maintenance Manager — Operational (“O”) Level Maintenance Company: Boeing Aerospace Operations Boeing is seeking an experienced, dynamic F/A-18 Maintenance Manager to lead and oversee O‑level maintenance, repair, and readiness activities for Kuwait aircraft at JRB New Orleans, LA. This is a hands‑on leadership role responsible for maximizing aircraft availability and safety by directing daily maintenance operations, managing highly skilled personnel, and ensuring the maintenance organization meets rigorous technical, safety, and readiness standards. Lead a mission‑critical team that directly enables flight operations, testing, and Ferry of Kuwaiti aircraft. Opportunity to shape maintenance policies, processes, and readiness outcomes for an elite F/A‑18 fleet. Operate at the intersection of leadership, technical authority, and operational tempo — where every decision affects aircraft availability and mission success. Core Responsibilities People and Process Leadership Skills Inspirational leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead large, multidisciplinary teams through high-tempo operations while maintaining morale, discipline, and professionalism. Coaching and development: Proven track record of mentoring technicians and supervisors, building succession pipelines, enforcing discipline, maintaining morale and professionalism and improving individual and team competency. Change leadership: Experience leading process change and cultural transformation initiatives that improve safety, quality, and readiness outcomes. Conflict resolution and communication: Skilled at resolving personnel issues, delivering tough feedback, and maintaining transparent, timely communication with stakeholders at all levels. Process design and standardization: Ability to design, implement, and sustain standardized maintenance processes, checklists, and SOPs that increase efficiency and reduce variability. Performance management: Establishes clear expectations, metrics, and accountability systems; uses data-driven performance reviews to drive continuous improvement. Resource optimization: Balances workload, shift patterns, and personnel allocations to maintain readiness while minimizing fatigue and attrition. Safety and human factors focus: Embeds human-centered safety practices into processes to reduce errors and improve compliance. Cross-functional influence: Able to build coalition across engineering, logistics, QA, and leadership to implement systemic process improvements. Maintenance and Readiness Management Oversee daily O‑level maintenance operations, preventive maintenance, scheduled inspections, and repairs to meet mission requirements and sortie generation goals. Provide direct operational support to flight operations — ensuring aircraft are mission‑ready for daily flight schedules. Enforce compliance with customer‑established technical manuals, safety regulations, and engineering guidance. Plan and forecast maintenance demand using data on utilization, flight hours, and operational trends, and adjust schedules to optimize availability. Coordinate flow of materials, tooling, support equipment, and personnel to sustain continuous maintenance operations. Prioritize maintenance tasks to maximize fleet readiness, reduce downtime, and meet operational timelines. Monitor and report readiness metrics, KPIs, and operational trends to senior leadership. Manage the maintenance department workforce: manpower planning, performance management, and skill development.