Business SME Crew Management

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.

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 → The client dont consider 

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

If any item above is unchecked → The client dont consider