Head of Passenger Services

RwandAir Ltd is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda. It operates domestic and international services to East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East from its main base at Kigali International Airport. Our mission is to provide unsurpassed, safe, and reliable services in air transportation, including strategically linking Rwanda with the outside world while ensuring a fair return on investment. As part of the expansion strategy, we are looking for interested, qualified, and competent candidates to fill the following position:

Job Title: Head of Passenger Services

Department: Ground services

Reports to: Director Ground Operations

Location: Kigali International Airport

Job Purpose

Lead RwandAir’s Passenger Services function at Kigali (and future hub locations) to deliver a consistently premium, frictionless and 4-Star customer experience across the end-to-end passenger journey — from kerb to gate. Set the strategic direction for service standards, digital touchpoints, premium product delivery, special handling and irregular operations recovery. Build and develop a high-performing leadership team that drives service excellence, commercial returns and operational efficiency, while positioning RwandAir as the airline of choice for the region.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic

• Translate RwandAir’s 4-Star aspiration and brand promise into a Passenger Services operating strategy covering service standards, journey design, premium product, digital adoption and accessibility.
• Set the strategic direction for the end-to-end passenger experience at Kigali hub and ensure readiness for Bugesera and future hubs, including capacity, infrastructure and concept of operations.
• Define service-level standards, KPIs and customer experience indicators benchmarked against Skytrax 4Star carriers and recognised industry leaders.
• Lead the people and capability strategy for Passenger Services — talent attraction, culture, competency frameworks, employee engagement and certification pathways.
• Champion the digital transformation of passenger touchpoints — self-service kiosks, biometrics, offairport check-in, mobile and disruption notification — in partnership with IT and Commercial.
• Build commercial value through ancillary revenue at the airport — lounges, fast-track, paid upgrades, premium services and excess baggage — in line with RwandAir’s revenue strategy.
• Embed safety, security, regulatory and data-privacy compliance as non-negotiable foundations across all passenger handling activities.

Operational

• Direct day-to-day passenger handling — check-in, boarding, transfer, arrivals, lounge, special services (UMNR, WCHR/WCHS, VIP/CIP) and irregular operations recovery — to achieve agreed service KPIs.
• Own the Passenger Services operating budget; control unit cost per passenger, labour productivity, agent staffing and overtime within plan.
• Lead daily, weekly and monthly performance reviews to drive D-OTP contribution, NPS, customer complaints, denied boarding and ancillary conversion.
• Coordinate with Hub Control, Airside, Operations Control and Network teams on disruption management, missed-connection recovery and downline coordination.
• Ensure compliance with RCAA, ICAO, IATA Resolution 753, Rwanda Data Protection Law and consumerprotection regulations on passenger rights, and cascade KPIs and performance contracts to Duty Managers and frontline teams. Accountabilities Management & Leadership
• Establish the departmental or teams’ objectives and priorities to align with and support business objectives.
• Regularly evaluate the departmental or teams’ objectives, plans, procedures and practices, and makes appropriate changes if needed.
• Oversee and supervise employees. Direct daily activities, recruit, train, develop and discipline to ensure a high standard of service delivery.
• Train and develop other employees, to ensure succession planning is in place. Personal Development
• Take responsibility for own ongoing personal development and growth of expertise.
• Keep abreast with any market trends and developments.
• Assist in the response to any emergency or a major operational disruption affecting RwandAir or its subsidiaries.

Safety

• Responsible to ensure that employees at all levels understand work health and safety requirements and expectations through provision of relevant RwandAir induction, information, instruction, training and supervision.
• Ensure compliance to all relevant safety, security, quality and environmental management policies, procedures and controls across the operation to assure employee safety, security, legislative compliance and delivery of high quality service with a responsible environmental attitude.
• Ensure that all managers and supervisors understand work health and safety requirements and expectations to the extent that they can pass on relevant information, identify training needs and provide appropriate supervision in their workplace.
• Take a direct and personal interest in reported injuries, incidents, near misses and hazards to ensure that appropriate reporting, investigation and response is being achieved.

Environmental Management

• Identify future issues and challenges stemming from environmental legislation and global trends.
• Incorporate these issues into business strategy and management tools to deliver enhanced business resilience and embed environmental issues as part of business strategy.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE & SKILLS:

Qualifications and Experience:

Essential

• Minimum 10 years’ aviation/airline ground handling experience, with at least 5 years leading large Passenger Services functions at a hub airport.
• Proven track record of delivering customer experience uplift measured through NPS, Skytrax, QSI or equivalent.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Management, Hospitality, Business or a related discipline; IATA Passenger Ground Services or Airport Operations qualification.
• Experience leading large, multicultural and multi-shift frontline workforces.
• P&L and budget ownership of a major airport / passenger services unit.
• Hands-on experience with DCS (Altea/Sabre), BRS and disruption-management platforms; exposure to a major airport facility move is an advantage.

Preferred

• Master’s Degree (MBA or related); Skytrax/Service Design certification or Lean/Six Sigma credentials.

Job Specific Skills:

Essential

• Customer Experience Leadership — Skytrax 4/5-Star service design, execution and journey orchestration.
• Aviation Operations Acumen — deep working knowledge of DCS, BRS and real-time disruption tools.
• Commercial & Ancillary Revenue — proven ability to monetise the airport journey and drive ancillary upsell.
• People Leadership — managing large, multicultural, multi-shift frontline workforces in a hub environment.
• Crisis & IROPS Recovery — composed, decisive and customer-first under disruption.
• Stakeholder Management — airport operator, ground handlers, immigration, customs, security and government bodies.
• Digital Mindset — biometrics, self-service, mobile and CRM-enabled service recovery.
• Data-Driven Mindset — uses NPS, CSAT, voice-of-customer and complaint analytics to inform decisions; multilingual capability (English essential; French / Kinyarwanda preferred).

JOB DIMENSIONS:

Organisational Accountability

• Local accountability with Global impact

Managerial & Supervisory Accountability

• Manages a department within a division
• Supervises through other management personnel

Leadership & Strategic Accountability

• Develops policy and sets strategic direction
• Develops department strategy

Financial Accountability Operating Budget

• Full management of operating budget (Prime Accountability)
• In line with the department’s budget

Expenses

• Approves expenditures
• In line with the department’s budget

Revenues

• Department revenue accountability

Customer Accountability

• Interfaces with executive decision makers

Freedom to Act Independently

• Sets policies and objectives

How to Apply:

• An application letter addressed to the Chief HR & Administration Officer;
• Recent Curriculum Vitae;
• Copies of Notarised Degree/Diploma certificates
• Relevant certificates;
• Copies of academic papers;
• A photocopy of the Passport/National ID
• Three referees

The deadline for submitting application documents (Only PDF Format) is August 10th , 2026. Please apply via the link: https://erecruitment.rwandair.com/.