Job Description
Job Description
Business SME – Crew Management
Location: Onsite – DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth), Texas
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Business Subject Matter Expert (SME) specializing in Crew Management to support a major airline operations and product development initiative. This role requires hands-on airline crew operations experience, with direct exposure to crew scheduling, legality, and operational recovery, rather than purely functional or system support experience.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the functional and operational SME for crew management, including crew scheduling, rostering, and regulatory compliance.
- Own or directly support real-time crew decision-making during disruptions, including legality resolution, reassignments, and recovery scenarios.
- Work closely with business and technical teams to define requirements and validate crew management solutions against real-world operational scenarios.
- Support system configuration, testing, and user acceptance (UAT), ensuring solutions reflect actual OCC workflows.
- Provide insights to optimize crew utilization, recovery outcomes, and operational efficiency.
- Prepare and deliver management and status reporting using PowerPoint, Excel, dashboards, and project artifacts.
- Collaborate with delivery managers on project coordination, including meeting facilitation, documentation, risk tracking, and stakeholder communication.
- Use tools such as Jira, Rally, and Confluence to track requirements, issues, and progress.
- Assist with training, documentation, and knowledge transfer for operational and internal teams.
Required Qualifications
- 12+ years of airline operations experience, with a strong focus on crew scheduling, crew control, or crew recovery.
- Direct involvement in crew legality, reassignment, or recovery decisions, preferably within or alongside an Operations Control Center (OCC).
- Strong understanding of crew planning, regulatory compliance, and disruption handling.
- Experience with management reporting and project coordination tools (Jira, Rally, PowerPoint, Excel).
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage operational, technical, and leadership stakeholders.
- Ability to work onsite in DFW and collaborate in a fast-paced airline environment.
Ideal Candidate Profile
- Has owned or materially influenced crew decisions, not just supported systems or training.
- Comfortable translating live operational realities into system and product requirements.
- Adaptable, proactive, and open to learning new platforms and processes.
- Experience with crew scheduling or crew management systems is strongly preferred, when paired with operational ownership.
Here are a few pointers to check with candidates before submission:
SECTION A – Mandatory (ALL Required)
☐ Airline Operations Experience (10+ years)
Candidate has substantial airline ops background with direct crew exposure (not adjacent or IT-only).
☐ Crew Decision Ownership
Candidate has owned or directly influenced crew-related decisions (not just supported, trained, or configured systems).
☐ OCC / Live Operations Exposure
Candidate has worked within or alongside an OCC / IOC or equivalent live-operations environment.
☐ Onsite Readiness – DFW
Candidate is willing and able to work onsite in DFW.
If any item above is unchecked → Do NOT submit
SECTION B – Experience Signals (Minimum 2 Required)
☐ Owned crew scheduling or rerostering decisions
☐ Direct involvement in crew legality / FAR compliance resolution
☐ Led or owned crew recovery during IROPs
☐ Executed real-time crew reassignment during disruptions
☐ Accountable for disruption outcomes (not just escalation)
☐ Made trade-off decisions balancing legality, cost, recovery speed, and operations
Fewer than 3 checked → Do NOT submit