Senior Operational Planning Manager

easyJet; Luton; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

easyJet is seeking a Senior Operational Planning Manager to drive operational readiness across our network. This critical role involves overseeing a team focused on aligning commercial ambitions with operational realities, ensuring a robust scheduling and fleet growth strategy. The ideal candidate will possess a strong operational background in aviation, leadership experience in high-frequency environments, and excellent analytical skills. This position also offers significant staff travel benefits and a competitive compensation package.

Benefits

Competitive base salary

Up to 20% bonus

25 days holiday + bank holidays

7% company pension contribution

Life Assurance

Flexible benefits package

Outstanding staff travel benefits

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in a complex, high frequency, multi-base environment.
• Deep understanding of airline operations and planning.
• Experience managing teams through time-sensitive planning cycles.

Responsibilities

• Lead the operational planning team, ensuring alignment with operational constraints.
• Evaluate scheduling proposals through an operational lens to identify risks.
• Partner with various departments for cross-functional coordination.

Skills

Operational leadership

Data analysis

Communication

Education

Degree in mathematics, engineering, operational research or another quantitative field

Tools

MS SQL

Advanced Excel modelling

Job description

We’re easyJet, one of Europe’s most recognisable airline brands – and one of the largest, with over 1,000 routes across 35 countries. Every year, tens of millions of passengers choose us for reliable, great value travel. powered by a complex, large scale operation that runs like clockwork thanks to the exceptional teams behind the scenes.

At the heart of that operation is Operational Planning – a key function that keeps our network resilient, efficient and ready to deliver against ambitious commercial growth targets. We are now looking for a Senior Operational Planning Manager to lead this high impact team, drive operational readiness and ensure that our fleet, schedule and resource planning align with operational constraints and strategic goals.

Your Mission

As Senior Operational Planning Manager, you will be a driving force in our Operations Strategy & Planning function. Reporting to the Head of Operational Planning, you’ll lead a team that works cross functionally to translate commercial ambitions into operational reality. Ensuring that our schedules, fleet growth and regulatory compliance are operationally robust from day one.

You’ll be responsible for ensuring that operational stakeholders are equipped with the data, insights and planning tools they need to maintain performance and resilience, even in the face of disruption, regulatory change or new market entry. This is a high visibility, hands on leadership role that sits at the intersection of network planning, crew and fleet operations and schedule design.

What You’ll Be Doing

· Lead Operational Planning- Oversee the daily operations of the planning team, coaching analysts and managers to deliver planning outputs that keep the operation running smoothly and efficiently.

· Network Implementation & Readiness- Act as the operational lead for multi-year schedule and network growth planning, ensuring that all operational enablers (crew, fleet, maintenance, airfields) are aligned and ready to deliver.

· Operational Feasibility & Efficiency- Evaluate commercial scheduling proposals through an operational lens, identifying risks and constraints (e.g., slot windows, crew duty time, turnaround feasibility) and recommending optimisation strategies.

· Cross-Functional Coordination- Partner with Crewing, Flight Ops, Engineering and Airports to align planning assumptions, validate growth opportunities and ensure all jurisdictions and AOCs are adequately resourced.

· Scenario Planning & Simulation- Build and guide the use of simulation models to assess operational resilience, optimise crew establishment and mitigate disruption.

· Governance & Continuous Improvement- Own operational schedule governance processes and embed operational data into decision-making frameworks for planning and risk assessment.

· Tooling & Technology- Champion the integration of operational data with planning systems to enhance modelling accuracy and decision speed.

What You’ll Bring

· A degree in mathematics, engineering, operational research or another quantitative field.

· Proven operational leadership in a complex, high frequency, multi base environment (aviation preferred).

· Deep understanding of airline operations, including crew planning, fleet growth, flight time limitations and network design.

· Ability to drive end to end operational alignment across departments while balancing cost, performance and resilience.

· Practical experience with planning systems and databases (e.g. MS SQL) and advanced Excel modelling skills.

· Experience leading teams through complex, time sensitive planning cycles with multiple stakeholders and constraints.

· Strong communication skills to present operational risks and trade-offs to senior stakeholders clearly and persuasively.

What’s in it for You

· Competitive base salary

· Up to 20% bonus

· 25 days holiday + bank holidays

· BAYE, SAYE & Performance Share Schemes

· 7% company pension contribution

· Life Assurance

· Flexible benefits package

· Outstanding staff travel benefits across the easyJet network

We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds as part of our ongoing commitment to having a team that truly represents the customers that we serve . You may feel that that you don’t meet every single requirement for this role, but we’d still encourage you to submit an application if you feel you meet enough criteria to be considered. And if you need any adjustments or support during the recruitment process please let us know and we’ll work with you to find a solution.

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