Hours: 37.5, Monday to Friday
Contract: Permanent
Location: Hybrid – 3 days a week at either our Cargo Facility at DCE (London Heathrow) or VHQ (Crawley). Thursdays at DCE are required.
Closing date: 21st July 2025
As our Manager – Cargo Excellence, you’ll be at the heart of driving operational transformation and people leadership across Virgin Atlantic Cargo. This is a high-impact role where you’ll lead a large and diverse workforce, champion continuous improvement, and shape long-term strategic initiatives that enhance efficiency, customer experience, and employee engagement.
You’ll work closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to embed a culture of excellence, innovation, and accountability, ensuring our cargo operation delivers on its premium service promise.
- Provide strong leadership to the cargo workforce, setting standards for performance, behaviour, and engagement
- Develop and deliver the Cargo People Plan in partnership with the Cargo Leadership Team
- Lead the design and execution of long-term cargo strategy and cross-functional improvement projects
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives using lean methodologies to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and improve customer experience
- Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to optimise systems, automate processes, and deliver measurable results
- Coach and support teams in adopting a continuous improvement mindset and tools
- Represent cargo workforce perspectives in working groups and business-wide initiatives
Are you a strategic leader with a passion for people, process, and performance? Do you thrive in fast-paced environments and know how to turn vision into action? Then this could be the role for you!
Alongside the above, we’re looking for someone with:
- Proven experience managing large, diverse, and remote teams in operational or office-based environments
- Strong leadership and people development skills, with a focus on engagement and performance
- Experience in continuous improvement, innovation, or operational excellence - ideally in cargo, logistics, or aviation
- Interest in AI and automation technologies to improve efficiency and capabilities
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders at all levels
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with comfort in using KPIs and dashboards
- Project management expertise and a track record of delivering measurable impact
- Familiarity with lean methodologies and digital tools in logistics or cargo operations
- Commercial acumen and understanding of aviation or freight industry frameworks (e.g. IATA, CAA, HMRC)
If the above sounds like you, and you are ready to help shape the future of Virgin Atlantic Cargo through innovation, leadership, and transformation, we’d love to hear from you!
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Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We celebrate difference and everything that makes our colleagues unique by upholding an inclusive environment in which we can all thrive. So that everyone at Virgin Atlantic can be themselves and know they belong.
To make your journey with us accessible and individual to you, we encourage you to let us know if you’d like a little extra help with your application, or if you have any individual requirements at any stage along your recruitment journey. We are here to support you, so please reach out to our team, ([email protected]) feeling confident that we’ve got your individual considerations covered.