Senior Technical Planner - Heavy Maintenance Planning

At United, we have some of the best aircraft in the world. Our Technical Operations team is full of aircraft maintenance technicians, engineers, planners, ground equipment and facilities professionals, and supply chain teams that help make sure they’re well taken care of and ready to get our customers to their desired destinations. If you’re ready to work on our planes, join our Tech Ops experts and help keep our fleet in tip-top shape.

Job Overview and Responsibilities

The Base Maintenance Technical Planner is responsible for the management of aircraft heavy maintenance visits at internal and vendor facilities. This includes building work packages to include all critical maintenance tasks, coordination with other key work groups such as Materials, Tooling, and Engineering to ensure the visit is set up for success, supporting the station while the aircraft is in work, and ensuring successful release of the aircraft. This position also includes research and data analysis in order to identify optimization opportunities and creative solutions. Candidates should have problem-solving skills and an innovative mindset in addition to technical knowledge.

• Create and deliver on-time work maintenance packages for the stations/fleet within work scope and budgeted labor hours, span, and cost.
• Provide support to the maintenance station and work with Maintenance Programs, Engineering, Records, and other Planning groups to resolve issues.
• Modify work packages as necessary to account for hangar plan changes or work to be added or deleted.
• Communicate effectively and proactively to Production Control, Maintenance Representatives, Airframe Contracts, Methods & Standards, Logistics, Quality Control, and other planning organizations about revisions, special requirements, workload additions, and deletions to base maintenance events.
• Review post-visit information and analyze historical data to identify improvement opportunities to the maintenance program, scheduling, or visit workflow.
• Host effective, routine meetings with the station and other stakeholders to plan for upcoming maintenance visits and track progress of ongoing visits.
• Utilize data to recommend and implement improvement to Base Planning processes.

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent aircraft maintenance or maintenance planning experience.
• Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, Supply Chain/Logistics, Business, or related field.
• 2+ years of experience in aircraft maintenance, aircraft maintenance planning, supply chain, engineering, or other relevant aviation experience.
• Ability to independently lead planning efforts and work scope development through aircraft release.
• Ability to assess span, labor, risk, and operational impacts and make sound recommendations.
• Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and vendor partners.
• Ability to mentor and guide peers.
• Strong problem-solving skills in ambiguous or time-sensitive maintenance situations.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively interact at all levels (including executive) and team with all internal and external business partners.
• Data analysis and quantitative modeling ability (e.g., statistical, optimization, simulation, spreadsheet).
• Adept at juggling several projects and initiatives simultaneously through appropriate prioritization.
• Proficient in Excel and PowerPoint.

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree in related technical field or equivalent work or military experience.
• Aerospace, Mechanical, Industrial or Electrical Engineering.
• Experience planning heavy maintenance visits at internal or vendor facilities.
• Experience leading cross-functional projects or mentoring others.
• FAA Airframe and Powerplant License.
• Lean/Six Sigma Certification.
• Advanced aircraft maintenance planning knowledge, including maintenance programs and aircraft systems.
• Vendor contracts and airframe vendor management.
• Performance management.
• Project planning.
• Continuous improvement principles and tools.
• Financial calculations (labor, hours, materials, etc.).
• Demonstrates an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of generative AI tools and effectively leverages them for research, analysis, content creation, and problem-solving. Applies critical thinking to validate AI-generated outputs while adhering to company policies related to responsible AI use, data privacy, and security.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable state or federal law.