Director, Transportation Operations Excellence

Job Title: Director, Transportation Operations Excellence
Job Location: Irving-USA-75039
Work Location Type: Hybrid

About us

Since 1942, Sky Chefs has taken culinary excellence to new heights. As a trusted partner to the nation’s leading airlines and retailers, we proudly deliver millions of meals and exceptional service experiences every year across 43 sites throughout the United States. Built on a legacy of operational excellence, culinary expertise, and continuous innovation, we are committed to setting the industry standard in aviation culinary, airline services, last-mile logistics, and retail commerce.

From the kitchen to the runway, our teams work together to deliver quality, reliability, and service at every altitude. Our people are the heart of everything we do. At Sky Chefs, a career is more than a job – it’s an opportunity to grow, lead, and make an impact in a fast-paced, team-driven environment. Join America’s first, foremost, and finest and take your career to new heights.

Position Overview

The Director, Transportation Operations Excellence serves as the organizational subject matter expert (SME) for all transportation-related operations within airline catering. This role is responsible for designing, optimizing, and standardizing transportation strategies that ensure safe, compliant, productive, and on-time delivery of catering services to aircraft for North America. The Director provides thought leadership with all transportation directors and managers across Sky Chefs kitchen facilities in the US, drives continuous improvement, and partners cross-functionally to align transportation capabilities with operational and commercial objectives.

This newly created role is responsible for driving process standardization and operational excellence across our U.S. transportation function. The position leads the development and implementation of consistent reporting, dashboards, and best practices, while also overseeing the training and onboarding of newly hired Directors supporting transportation operations. In addition, this role serves as a key member of the SWAT/SME team, providing support for new site start-ups, addressing complex operational challenges, and ensuring the successful execution of critical initiatives.

• Given the complexity and scope of this role, we are seeking candidates with transportation experience in one or more of the following areas: airline catering, aircraft ground handling services, or airport operations
• Travel requirement for the Director role is up to 85% domestic travel
• Prefer candidates living in the DFW area

Main Accountabilities

Subject Matter Expertise & Strategy

• Act as the NAM expert on all transportation operations, routing, and airside logistics.
• Define and implement best practices across all locations to drive consistency and operational excellence.
• Advise Senior Director and Executive Leadership on transportation strategy, risks, and investment decisions.
• Lead benchmarking efforts to compare internal performance against industry standards.

Operational Excellence

• Oversee transportation performance across locations, ensuring alignment with on-time departure (D0) and service level agreements.
• Identify inefficiencies in routing, staging, and people utilization; implement scalable solutions.
• Develop contingency plans for irregular operations (IROPs), weather events, and disruptions.

Data, Systems & Innovation

• Serve as SME for transportation operations systems (Ground star, Forms).
• Drive data-driven decision making through KPI development, dashboards, and performance analytics.
• Identify and deploy automation opportunities with CI Teams (e.g., dispatch optimization, predictive analytics).

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with operations, commercial, and airport stakeholders when applicable to align transportation with production and flight schedules.
• Support new business launches, station startups, and contract expansions.
• Act as the escalation point for complex transportation challenges across the network.

Talent & Capability Development

• Build and develop transportation leadership at each location.
• Standardize training programs.
• Promote a culture of accountability, safety, productivity minded and continuous improvement.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Transportation/Logistics related field
• 8+ years of transportation experience in airline catering, aircraft ground handling services or airport operations required
• Airline catering, aircraft ground operations or airport operations experience required
• Strong understanding of airside operations and aviation transportation requirements
• Experience managing multi-site or network-level operations
• Proven track record in process improvement and cost optimization
• Familiarity with transportation management systems and analytics tools
• Strong technical systems proficiency
• Ability to travel domestically up to 85%

Sky Chefs is an EEO and Affirmative Action Employer of Women/Minorities/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities.