Head of Operations, Alpha Flight Services

Job Purpose

Alpha Flight Services, part of dnata, provide culinary and inflight retail services to a wide range of airline customers and operate food and beverage outlets and airport lounges at Sharjah International Airport and Ras Al-Khaimah Airport.

As a Head of Operations, reporting directly to the Managing Director, you will hold full accountability for end-to-end operational performance across the organisation. This includes strategic leadership, governance, and performance oversight of Transport, Ramp Operations, Flight Preparation, Operations Control Centre, Inflight Equipment & GLP, Fleet Maintenance, Main Stores & Forecasting, Resource Planning, and Health & Safety.

You will carry ultimate responsibility for operational safety, regulatory compliance, service delivery standards, cost management, asset optimisation, and scalable growth within a high-volume, time-critical airline catering environment.

The operation currently supports approximately 45,000 flights annually across Sharjah (SHJ) and Ras Al Khaimah (RKT) Airports, with sustained year-on-year growth forecast ed. Success in this role requires balancing operational precision with forward-looking capacity planning, systems enhancement, and continuous improvement, ensuring increasing demand is met without compromising service integrity, efficiency, or commercial performance.

In this role, you will

• Provide strategic leadership to a diverse, multicultural operational workforce, fostering an inclusive, high-performance culture aligned to organisational values and long-term objectives.

• Set clear strategic priorities, KPIs, and accountability frameworks, ensuring disciplined objective setting, structured performance reviews, and measurable outcomes.

• Lead business-critical initiatives within a live, time-sensitive environment, protecting safety, service delivery, and cost performance.

• Oversee end-to-end operations across a high-volume airline catering environment, proactively managing seasonality, growth, disruption, and service continuity.

• Align production, dispatch, labour planning, fleet, and supply chain requirements to forecast ed volumes through integrated cross-functional planning with HODs.

• Maintain strategic oversight of fleet and asset performance, forecasting 12–18 month CAPEX requirements, optimising utilisation, minimising downtime, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

• Lead demand and supply planning aligned to commercial forecasts, leveraging data and seasonality modelling to minimise waste and optimise stock holding.

• Collaborate with Airport Authorities, airline partners, regulators, and internal stakeholders to ensure seamless airside performance, strong governance, and operational resilience.

• Safeguard SOTP performance standards across all facilities through disciplined planning, robust resource management, and real-time operational control.

• Provide visible executive leadership for safety, exceeding Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) through proactive reporting, strong leading indicators, thorough investigations, and robust Safety Improvement Plans (SIPs).

• Approve and validate risk assessments, ensuring operational risks are reduced to ALARP and formally accepted within governance frameworks.

• Represent and present operational and safety performance at Board and senior leadership forums, reinforcing transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Qualification

To be considered for the role, you must meet the below requirements

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years’ experience within airline catering or high volume, time critical operational environments with deep exposure to opeartionanal leadership
• Minimum 5 years’ experience operating at Senior Manager level or equivalent within a regulated, service-critical environment.
• At least 3 years’ direct experience in airside and ramp operations, with a strong understanding of live airport operating environments.

• Proven track record of leading multiple operational and compliance-driven functions within complex organisations.

• Strong working knowledge of IATA standards, AHM requirements, AVSEC regulations, and airport ramp governance frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience in Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Emergency Response, operating at Gold and Silver Command levels within structured crisis management environments.

Recruitment Process and Timeline:

dnata, part of Emirates Group, is an international organisation with employees from over 170 nationalities. We encourage applications from across the globe. Your application journey begins by applying via our Careers website. Please ensure your CV is up to date for our Talent Acquisition team to review your profile. If you meet the criteria of the role, you will then be invited to complete a HireVue video interview to share more about your experience and your career aspirations. If you are shortlisted, you will then be invited to interview with our hiring managers. If you are successful, your recruiter will reach out to you with an offer, and then our Onboarding team will ensure a smooth transition to your new role.

Salary & benefits

Join our growing team and enjoy a competitive remuneration package.