The Team
Guided by our purpose, core values, and leadership principles, we are creating an airline people love. Our corporate teams set the strategies and operational plans to ensure the success of our company. Whether we use our expertise in accounting, human resources, finance, planning, legal, marketing, or any of our operational divisions, our shared passion for travel and our guests is what motivates us to achieve excellence each day. If you share our passion for creating an airline people love, we want to hear from you.
Role Summary
The International Execution Director is a subject matter expert and strategic leader responsible for supporting the successful delivery of Alaska Air Group's international franchise. Operating on a matrixed basis from Seattle, this role partners with Regional Heads in Asia, Pacific, and Europe to ensure consistent execution of operational standards, guest experience delivery, and performance improvement initiatives. As an individual contributor, this role leads cross-functionally and partners with the Regional Heads to deliver world-class performance across launch readiness initiatives, performance improvement programs, and guest experience enhancements.
Key Duties
Launch Readiness
Lead end-to-end operational readiness for new international route launches, ensuring all systems, processes, and teams are prepared for day-one success.
Define the long-term strategy for international launch readiness with an 18–24 month horizon, ensuring proactive planning and alignment with broader network and enterprise growth goals.
Partner to adapt operational frameworks for international stations, including ground handling procedures, turnaround protocols, and customer service standards.
Coordinate cross-functional readiness activities across Network Planning, Airport Operations, Inflight, Maintenance, and other Operational and Commercial teams.
Present launch-readiness recommendations and long-range plans to senior operational and commercial leadership to drive alignment on investment, resource allocation, and go-to-market timing.
Develop market entry playbooks that standardize launch activities while allowing customization for local market requirements.
Operational Excellence
Partner with Regional Heads to drive operational performance improvements across completion factor, on-time performance, mishandled baggage, and other ops metrics.
Lead international schedule signoff process with an eye toward resilience and operational success, partnering with Network Planning.
Advise enterprise leaders on long-term operational goals for international flying, ensuring decisions reflect future-state performance, resource needs, and competitive positioning.
Design and implement performance dashboards providing real-time visibility into international operations metrics.
Establish benchmarking frameworks to measure Alaska's international performance against industry standards and competitive sets.
Guest Experience
Identify and execute initiatives that differentiate Alaska's international guest experience, particularly for premium cabin passengers.
Partner with Guest Experience teams to enhance key journey moments: check-in efficiency, customs/immigration facilitation, connection management, and post-flight engagement.
Implement feedback mechanisms to capture guest sentiment and rapidly address service gaps.
Work cross-functionally to map guest experience touchpoints across the international experience.
Develop service recovery protocols specific to international operations challenges.
Present guest-experience insights, performance trends, and long-term recommendations to senior Commercial and Operations leadership to inform strategic decisions.
Job-Specific Experience, Education & Skills
Required
10+ years airline operations experience with proven international launch expertise.
Bachelor’s degree, or an additional two years of relevant experience in lieu of this degree.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook).
Excellent written, verbal, analytical, presentation, and negotiation skills.
Strong cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management capabilities.
Data-driven approach to problem-solving with ability to translate insights into action.
Experience managing complex, multi-workstream projects across geographically distributed teams.
High school diploma or equivalent.
Minimum age of 18
Must be authorized to work in the U.S.
Preferred
Experience with regulatory compliance frameworks (TSA, CBP, IATA standards).
Background in network planning, station management, or ground operations.
Excellent communicator across all levels within an organization providing clarity to complex concepts and solutions.
Job-Specific Leadership Expectations
Embody our values to own safety, do the right thing, be kind-hearted, deliver performance, and be remarkable.
Lead with bias-for-action: when operational issues arise, own the fix quickly through cross-functional collaboration.
Build enterprise value by designing scalable solutions that benefit the entire international network.
Operate with lean team mentality: focus efforts on most leveraged opportunities that drive measurable outcomes.
Ensure international performance exceeds domestic benchmarks through operational excellence and remarkable guest experiences.
Salary Range
$150,600 - $233,450 / year
Total Target Compensation Range (incl. bonus & equity)
$185,532 - $286,609
Salary Details
The pay range and total target compensation package listed above is the expected pay offered for this position at the start of employment. Your pay will be based on multiple factors, including and not limited to location, your relevant experience/level, experience level, and skillset while balancing internal equity relative to other Alaska/Hawaiian/Horizon employees. Alaska/Hawaiian/Horizon is committed to fair, unbiased compensation along with competitive benefits in all locations in which we operate.
Note: We don't typically hire at the top of the range.
Total Rewards
[Company], Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air pay and benefits can vary by company, location, number of regularly scheduled hours worked, length of employment, and employment status.
Free stand-by travel privileges on [Company], Hawaiian Airlines & Horizon Air
Comprehensive well-being programs including medical, dental and vision benefits
Generous 401k match program
Quarterly and annual bonus plans
Generous holiday and paid time off
For more information about Alaska/Hawaiian/Horizon Total Rewards please visit our career site and view benefits.