Senior Manager Support 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: Senior Manager Support Services

Reports to: Director Ground Operations

Department: Ground Services

Location: Kigali International Airport

Job Purpose

Lead RwandAir Ground Services Support functions — Safety, Quality, Compliance, Resource Planning, Training and Internal Communications — to underpin a safe, compliant, efficient and 4-Star ground operation. Own the procedural and governance environment that enables the operation to scale; design the resource, capability and continuous-improvement frameworks that drive operational excellence; and act as the single point of accountability for regulatory readiness, risk management and organisational learning across Ground Services.

Key Duties and Responsibilities: Strategic

• Design and own the Ground Services governance architecture — Operations Manuals, SOPs, Management of Change, Risk Assessment and Document Control framework — aligned with ICAO, IOSA, ISAGO and IATA AHM.
• Define the Ground Services Safety Management System (SMS) and Quality Management System (QMS) strategy; embed a generative safety and Just Culture across all ground activities.
• Establish the strategic Resource Planning capability — demand forecasting, productivity models, manpower planning and rostering — to optimise cost and service for current and future operations.
• Set the Ground Services training and competency strategy in line with regulatory requirements and the 4- Star service ambition; partner with HR and L&D to build a sustainable competence pipeline.
• Lead the regulatory audit and certification strategy (IOSA, ISAGO, RCAA, ICAO) — including audit calendars, scope, readiness and finding closure.
• Define the Emergency Response and Business Continuity Management strategy for Ground Services, ensuring resilience against operational, security, pandemic and reputational shocks.
• Champion the internal communications strategy and culture-building agenda within Ground Services to reinforce safety, performance and engagement priorities.

Operational

• Execute and govern the internal audit and inspection programme; track findings, drive closure with action owners and report KPIs to Director Ground Services.
• Manage the SMS occurrence-reporting cycle — capture, classification, investigation, root cause and corrective action — in full compliance with Just Culture principles.
• Maintain and update the Ground Services Task Register, Risk Assessments and Management of Change records on a defined review cycle.
• Operate the Management of Change (MOC) process across Ground Services to ensure all operational, regulatory and organisational changes are risk-assessed and controlled.
• Maintain a robust Emergency Response Plan and execute regular ERP exercises across all aspects of the programme; capture lessons learned and update plans accordingly.
• Run resource planning operations — rosters, leave plans, shift utilisation and manpower productivity reporting — at the agreed cadence to enable optimal service delivery.
• Operate the charge-note control framework — issuance, reconciliation and banking deposits — in compliance with relevant SLAs and finance controls.
• Oversee delivery of the annual training calendar, OJT (On-the-Job Training) and recurrent training programme, ensuring 100% compliance with the Training Matrix and regulatory requirements.
• Perform other duties as assigned by Line Manager. 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 8 years’ aviation/ground handling experience, with at least 5 years leading Safety, Quality, Compliance or Training functions in an airline or major GHA.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Management, Safety Engineering, HR or related discipline; recognised SMS, QMS and Auditor certifications (IOSA / ISAGO Auditor or equivalent).
• Demonstrable expertise in risk management, root cause analysis and incident investigation; familiarity with ICAO Annex 19, IATA AHM and Just Culture frameworks.
• Experience leading multicultural, multi-disciplinary teams in a regulated aviation environment.

Preferred

• Master’s Degree (MBA, MSc Aviation Safety or related); Lean / Six Sigma Black Belt; IATA Diploma in Safety Management Systems / Quality Management. Job Specific Skills: Essential ? Safety & Quality Leadership — IOSA, ISAGO, IATA AHM, SMS, Just Culture, ICAO Annex 19.
• Risk Management — Bow-Tie, FMEA, Risk Matrix and Management of Change methodologies.
• Regulatory & Audit Fluency — RCAA, ICAO, host-country CAAs and IATA/ISAGO audit programmes.
• Workforce Planning — demand modelling, rostering, productivity benchmarking and operational analytics.
• Investigative Mindset — incident investigation, root cause analysis and human factors.
• Process & Continuous Improvement — Lean, Six Sigma and business process management.
• Communications & Influence — ability to engage frontline through to executive audiences.
• Digital Acumen — SMS tools, learning platforms and BI dashboards; 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
• Non revenue generating role 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/.