About the role
Our overall mission is simple: to ensure
happy passengers travel safely and on time. As Senior Operational Readiness, and Change Manager, you will hold senior accountability for
ensuring major capital projects, operational changes and business
transformation activity are safely, effectively and sustainably integrated into
the live airport operation.
Joining our Airport
Operations leadership team, you will act as the senior operational gateway for
change, setting the ORAT strategy, governance and assurance approach for
projects across the airport. You will influence project sponsors, delivery
teams, airlines, ground handlers, regulators, suppliers and internal functions
to ensure operational requirements are embedded from concept design through to
activation, handover and benefits realisation.
This is a senior,
airport-wide role with responsibility for building ORAT capability, leading
cross-functional readiness activity and providing clear assurance to executive
and capital governance forums. You will ensure that people, process, systems,
assets, training, trials, contingency arrangements and stakeholder engagement
are fully aligned before operational go-live, while protecting customer
experience, colleague safety, regulatory compliance and operational resilience.
About the recruitment process
The recruitment process for this role will be comprised of 2 stages. The first stage will be a Teams call with our Head of Terminal Operations and a member of our operational team, to discuss your background, experience and interest in the role. For successful candidates, the second stage interview will be in person, with a task or presentation to be confirmed upon invite to interview, followed with some values and competency based questions.
Please note, depending on the volume of applications, the recruitment process for this role may change. We are committed to supporting diverse ways of thinking and working, so if you require adjustments in the recruitment process, please let us know on your application. You can find out more about our interview process here.
What you'll be doing
Senior ORAT leadership, governance and assurance
- Own and continuously improve the airport’s ORAT framework, standards, governance model and readiness assurance approach for major projects and operational change.
- Provide senior operational assurance from concept design through delivery, commissioning, trials, activation, transition, handover and post-implementation review.
- Act as the senior operational gateway for change, ensuring projects demonstrate readiness across people, process, technology, assets, training, procedures, safety, resilience and stakeholder acceptance before go-live.
- Lead ORAT planning for complex, high-impact projects, including readiness strategies, integrated trials plans, mobilisation plans, transition plans, cutover arrangements and operational handover criteria.
- Chair or lead senior working groups and readiness forums, holding delivery teams and operational workstreams to account for agreed actions, risks, decisions and milestones.
- Provide executive-level reporting, recommendations and escalation on operational readiness, key risks, dependencies, mitigations and go/no-go decisions.
- Ensure systems completion, testing, asset handover, training evidence, operational documentation and lessons learned are captured consistently and transitioned effectively into business-as-usual ownership.
Strategic stakeholder management and operational integration
- Build and maintain senior relationships with airlines, handlers, commercial partners, regulators, construction and technical teams, suppliers, support functions and the wider airport community.
- Set the stakeholder engagement approach for ORAT activity, ensuring impacted teams are consulted, informed, trained and ready to operate new facilities, systems, processes or ways of working.
- Lead the development of interim and final operating plans, stakeholder transition plans, communications plans, logistics arrangements and operational readiness scorecards.
- Represent Airport Operations in senior project governance, challenging design, scope, schedule, risk and implementation decisions where operational outcomes may be compromised.
Airport operations management
- Develop and lead a senior ORAT function within Airport Operations, setting clear standards, role expectations, governance routines and performance measures.
- Lead business change initiatives on behalf of operations where the operational impact, stakeholder complexity or reputational risk requires senior oversight.
- Take a key role in the airport’s incident management and operational recovery structure during periods of disruption, ensuring change activity supports safe and resilient operations.
- Drive continuous improvement across operational readiness, embedding lessons learned, readiness metrics and standardised tools across the capital and business change portfolio.
- Work with legal, compliance, safety, security and operational teams to ensure legislative, regulatory and procedural changes are translated into practical operational actions.