MD, Technical Operations Planning

American Airlines • Dallas, TX

3d • Onsite

About The Position

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.

Requirements

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

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred
• Prior experience in maintenance planning is a plus

Responsibilities

• 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
• 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
• 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
• Oversee budgeting of track allocations and associated staffing levels, and resource allocations, partnering with the base maintenance organization
• Coordinate closely with Flight Operations, Network Planning, Material Planning, and Engineering through the planning life cycle
• Lead the long-range Hangar strategy and associated maintenance footprint for the airline, partnering with Corporate Real Estate, Finance, and Government Affairs
• 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
• 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
• Set the strategic allocation of overnight workloads across outstations and hub maintenance bases, matching labor capacity and hangar space with scheduled line check requirements
• 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
• 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
• 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

Benefits

• 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.
• Member Assistance Program
• Pet insurance
• Discounts on hotels, cars, cruises and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive