Assoc. Manager, Engineering

Summary of the role Flying is easy, isn't it? Check in, drop your bags, go through security and board the plane. Behind the scenes, it is a very complex and ever-changing business, where any mistake can severely damage an airline's reputation, and where every airline has its own specificities that we need to accommodate. We manage the world-leading airline Departure Control System, providing check-in and boarding services to approximately 150 airlines and 1 billion passengers each year.

Altéa Customer Management (CM) is at its heart: the mission‑critical application that masters the end‑to‑end customer experience at the airport and beyond. As Engineering Manager, you will lead one of the CM Scrum teams, made up of product definition analysts, software engineers and QA engineers who design, develop and deliver high‑quality solutions for our key airline customers. Your main responsibility will be to build a strong, self‑organised and customer‑focused team, empowered to assess business impact, plan, deliver and solve problems autonomously, while fostering a culture of feedback and continuous improvement.

The team works hand in hand with our airline competency centres, including the Air France‑KLM Air Operations Center (AF‑KL AOC), and Southwest Airlines Competency Center (WN CC): a team of approximately 130 professionals supporting Southwest, operating on a capacity‑driven model that lets Southwest prioritise quickly and drive growth. Depending on the final organisation, you may also take accountability of the CM stream for one of our key customers (Southwest Airlines or Air France‑KLM).

The team is responsible for

• Assessing customer gaps and requirements, and designing solutions that bring immediate value to their business.
• Developing, testing and delivering high‑quality CM evolutions, on time and within the committed scope and budget.
• Ensuring functional and technical alignment with the other CM component teams and streams.
• Contributing to transversal activities such as maintenance, testing and production releases.

• Develop and grow team members in an open and inclusive environment that promotes diversity.
• Set objectives, review them along the year, foster continuous feedback and conduct performance reviews.
• Lead recruitment and ensure a smooth onboarding for newcomers, keeping a balanced and efficient team.
• Motivate team members to stretch their capabilities, and foster knowledge sharing across CM teams and sites.

• Support the Customer Success Engineer / Stream Leader / Product Owner in managing customer expectations and priorities.
• Be accountable for the performance and results of the team: scope, timeline, quality and cost.
• Build a trusted relationship with customer stakeholders and the competency centres, and react to production issues and customer escalations.

• Drive quality and shift-left practices so that every deliverable meets the customer requirements and all non-functional requirements.
• Keep a constant focus on technical debt, security, performance and automation of the software.
• Enforce a strong awareness of operational constraints, stability and software procedures within the team.
• Promote an engineering mindset, continuous improvement and innovation.

• Share top-down information and the customer's business context, so the team understands priorities and decisions.
• Represent the team in project and ART forums, and collaborate with the other Engineering Managers on best practices and transversal topics.
• Support and embrace changes in the organisation, bringing your team along with them, and be proactive when needed in proposing and implementing changes within your…