Special Assistance Team Manager

Synopsis

The position is responsible for developing and maintaining Etihad Airways Special Assistance and humanitarian response capability, ensuring readiness to support passengers, families and employees affected by mass disruption, major incident or crisis.

The role develops strategy, operational plans, procedures and training standards; manages SAT recruitment, training, exercising and readiness; and ensures alignment with applicable regulatory requirements and recognised international family assistance practices.

The position is responsible for developing Special Assistance capability at the AUH Hub and outstations, including training relevant station management and evaluating external emergency response providers and mutual assistance arrangements. During a major incident or crisis, the position assumes the role of SAT Manager, leading the activation, deployment and management of Operational Disruption Team and/or the Special Assistance Team resources and contracted emergency response support.

Accountabilities

• Develop, manage and maintain the ERP Special Assistance Team (SAT), Family Assistance and Critical Incident/Peer Support programmes, including associated policies, procedures, protocols and operational guidance, ensuring alignment with applicable regulatory requirements and recognised international practices.
• Conduct and support internal and external audits, compliance reviews and assessments, ensuring findings and corrective actions are appropriately addressed and closed.
• Lead the system-wide recruitment, selection and ongoing engagement of employee volunteers for the Special Assistance Team, ensuring sufficient trained resources are maintained to meet organisational response requirements.
• Develop and maintain initial and recurrent SAT training programmes, including training standards, syllabus and competency requirements; manage training delivery, candidate assessment and evaluation of programme effectiveness.
• Assess Special Assistance and humanitarian response readiness across the AUH Hub and outstations, identifying capability gaps and implementing improvements, including the evaluation of external emergency response providers and mutual assistance arrangements with partner airlines.
• Design, coordinate and evaluate emergency exercises and drills to validate SAT, Family Assistance and Critical Incident response arrangements, ensuring lessons identified are incorporated into continuous improvement activities.
• Assume the operational role of SAT Manager during mass disruption, major incidents or crises, either within the HQ Emergency Response Centre (ERC) or on international deployment, leading the activation, mobilisation, rostering and management of SAT personnel and contracted emergency response resources.
• Maintain governance and oversight of SAT operational readiness, including volunteer records, training and competency records, rosters, equipment and resources, documentation and other administrative requirements necessary to support effective activation and deployment.
• Develop, implement and continuously improve SAT operational processes, systems and tools, ensuring lessons identified from incidents, exercises, audits and industry developments are incorporated into the programme.

Education & Experience

• Degree or diploma preferred, ideally in Psychology, Aviation Management, Human Factors, Safety Management, Business Management or a related discipline.
• Fluent written and spoken English is required, Arabic advantage.
• Minimum of eight years’ aviation industry experience, preferably within an operational environment. Customer care, emergency planning and/or crisis management is desirable.
• Demonstrated experience in the development and delivery of training programmes is required; experience in digital or online learning development is desirable.
• Experience in leading teams in high-pressure, sensitive or crisis-related operational environments is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of aviation emergency response, family assistance and applicable regulatory requirements and international standards is desirable.

Etihad Airways is more than the UAE’s national airline - we’re shaping the future of global aviation. From our hub in Abu Dhabi, we connect people across continents and cultures, while driving our “Journey 2030” ambition to double our fleet, expand our network and grow our people for a new era of excellence. Join us and become part of a vision where the world is your workplace and extraordinary experiences take flight.

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