Manager, Customer Operations

Finnair; Vantaa; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Finnair seeks a Manager, Customer Operations to establish a new Customer Operations function within Component Maintenance Services. You will lead customer-facing operational processes across the maintenance value stream, ensuring uninterrupted support for Finnair operations and enabling growth of our external component maintenance business.

This role has no direct people leadership responsibilities but requires several years in customer operations, strong leadership, and English proficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in engineering, aviation, supply chain, or related field.
• Several years of experience in customer operations, service delivery, maintenance operations, or technical B2B environments.
• Strong leadership and experience leading people, teams, projects, or cross-functional operational activities.
• Excellent customer communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong negotiating, conflict resolution, and prioritization skills.
• Strong analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Several years of experience in process development, performance management, and continuous improvement.
• Strong English language skills, both spoken and written; Finnish is an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop Customer Operations processes, performance, competence, compliance, and ways of working.
• Coordinate customer and operational priorities with Production, ensuring planning and execution consistently protect Finnair operational needs.
• Own customer onboarding and coordinate operational readiness for new customer agreements.
• Coordinate RFQs and quotations, ensuring timely technical, capacity, supply chain, and commercial inputs.
• Own customer order coordination from receipt through maintenance delivery and closure.
• Oversee the invoicing process related to component maintenance services, ensuring timely, accurate billing in cooperation with Finance and other stakeholders.
• Ensure proactive daily customer communication, status visibility, issue resolution, and escalation management.
• Develop standardized processes, KPIs, reporting, and digital ways of working.
• Contribute to Finnair's quality management system, compliance framework, and approved operational processes.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Process development

Continuous improvement

English proficiency

Finnish language

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent (engineering, aviation, supply chain, or related field)

Job description

Finnair is a diverse community of professionals who work ambitiously with a big heart and commitment. A strong safety culture is our priority and at the core of our everyday work, never taking it for granted. We are committed to doing our share in solving the climate challenge by determinedly following our science-based pathway to decarbonize our operations. We find meaning in our purpose: With our heart in Finland, we make every journey better, today and tomorrow. Our values - Always Safe, Customer at Heart and Stronger Together - guide us in everything we do.

Finnair Technical Operations division's task is to execute Finnair's flight operations safely, economically, and in a reliable manner. Finnair Technical Operations is responsible for the airworthiness of the Finnair fleet. The key objectives of Technical Operations are safety, reliable flight operations, and cost-efficient maintenance processes. Component Maintenance Services is part of Technical Operations, and its main responsibility is to repair and overhaul a wide variety of components from different aircraft systems.

Are you passionate about customer experience, operational excellence, and building new ways of working?

We are now looking for a

MANAGER, CUSTOMER OPERATIONS

to establish and develop a new Customer Operations function within Component Maintenance Services.

This newly created role is a key part of the revised operating model of Component Maintenance Services. You will lead customer-facing operational processes throughout the maintenance value stream while ensuring uninterrupted support for Finnair operations and enabling the continued growth of our external component maintenance business. Please note that this position does not have direct people leadership responsibilities.

As Manager, Customer Operations, you will act as the primary operational interface between our Component Maintenance customers, Business Development, Engineering, Production, and Supply Chain. You will ensure that customer commitments are translated into coordinated operational delivery, customer priorities are balanced with operational requirements, invoices are generated accurately and on time, and production planning consistently safeguards Finnair operational needs.

This position is planned to start in early 2027, with the exact start date to be agreed upon with the selected candidate.

In this role, you will:

• Lead and develop Customer Operations processes, performance, competence, compliance, and ways of working.
• Coordinate customer and operational priorities with Production, ensuring planning and execution consistently protect Finnair operational needs.
• Own customer onboarding and coordinate operational readiness for new customer agreements.
• Coordinate RFQs and quotations, ensuring timely technical, capacity, supply chain, and commercial inputs.
• Own customer order coordination from receipt through maintenance delivery and closure.
• Oversee the invoicing process related to component maintenance services, ensuring timely, accurate, and transparent billing in cooperation with Finance and other stakeholders.
• Ensure proactive daily customer communication, status visibility, issue resolution, and escalation management.
• Develop standardized processes, KPIs, reporting, and digital ways of working.
• Contribute to the continuous development and effective implementation of Finnair's quality management system, compliance framework, and approved operational processes, ensuring customer-facing activities are performed in accordance with company and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor service performance and customer feedback and drive corrective and continuous improvement actions with customers.
• Support business growth by identifying customer needs, upsell- and new service -opportunities in cooperation with Sales and Business Development.

To succeed in this role, we hope you have:

• Relevant bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in engineering, aviation, supply chain, or related field.
• Several years of experience in customer operations, service delivery, maintenance operations, supply chain, aviation, or another technical B2B environment.
• Strong leadership capability and experience leading people, teams, projects, or cross-functional operational activities.
• Excellent customer communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong negotiating, conflict resolution, and prioritization skills.
• Strong analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Several years of experience in process development, performance management, and continuous improvement.
• Strong English language skills, both spoken and written. Finnish is considered as an advantage.

Experience in aircraft component maintenance, MRO operations, or other regulated technical environments is considered an advantage.

Working at Finnair:

We offer you an exciting opportunity to work in the fast-changing aviation and international travel industry in a culture that drives and enables professional development and continuo