IT Application Development Manager - United Airlines

There’s never been a more exciting time to join United Airlines. We’re on a path towards becoming the best airline in the history of aviation. Our shared purpose – Connecting People, Uniting the World – is about more than getting people from one place to another. It also means that as a global company that operates in hundreds of locations around the world with millions of customers and tens of thousands of employees, we have a unique responsibility to uplift and provide opportunities in the places where we work, live and fly, and we can only do that with a truly diverse and inclusive workforce. And we’re growing – in the years ahead, we’ll hire tens of thousands of people across every area of the airline. Our careers include a competitive benefits package aimed at keeping you happy, healthy and well-traveled. From employee-run "Business Resource Group" communities to world-class benefits like parental leave, 401k and privileges like space available travel, United is truly a one-of-a-kind place to work. Are you ready to travel the world?

We believe that inclusion propels innovation and is the foundation of all that we do. United's Digital Technology team spans the globe and is made up of diverse individuals all working together with cutting-edge technology to build the best airline in the history of aviation. Our team designs, develops and maintains massively scaling technology solutions brought to life with innovative architectures, data analytics, and digital solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

As the IT Application Development Manager, you will lead the development and implementation of a new Airport Operations technology, a key component of United's growth strategy. This technology will be seamlessly integrated with various other systems across the organization. Your role will involve leading a team focused on digital transformation, providing hands-on leadership in designing, analyzing, and developing scalable solutions. You will emphasize solutions architecture, Agile development practices, and driving organizational change.

Delivery and Execution

• Responsible for leading the end-to-end delivery and maintenance of applications/s (including cloud-based).
• Lead the entire application lifecycle, from development through deployment and maintenance, ensuring efficient and reliable operations.
• Effectively lead and deliver work requests and projects within the committed budget, schedule and quality for individual projects while also meeting overall department performance goals.
• Encourage operational excellence through the consistent maintenance of performance, reliability, and availability for all applications.

Strategic Alignment

• Engage, and partner with collaborators, technical and business, to ensure that application delivery supports key business processes, customer experiences, loyalty and revenue growth.
• Collaborate with business units to prioritize product development and lead key initiatives. Work closely with collaborators and leadership to align development and operational efforts with strategic priorities, ensuring the team's contributions drive critical business outcomes.
• Influence partners to define clear priorities for deliverables and establish key business outcomes, ensuring these goals are effectively met.
• Ensure that the application lifecycle supports broader business goals, including enhancing end user experiences and optimizing operational efficiency.

Communication, Collaboration and Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborates with other teams and business constituents to provide daily operational support. Be a trusted leader with vision with business partners to create impactful products that delight your customers.
• Ensure smooth coordination between teams to support seamless operational performance and application delivery.
• Provide delivery estimates and case updates to support overall IT performance metrics, monthly project status reporting and quarterly resource planning review. Maintains relationships with technology vendors, ensuring that partnerships deliver value to the organization.

Drive innovation:

• Identify technical obstacles early and work closely with the team to find creative solutions. Responsible for advancing, assisting and follow-through on resolution of issues related to delivery of technology solutions.
• Collaborate and share knowledge to create effective and innovative solutions to problems. Facilitate collaboration within teams to identify emerging technologies and trends that could drive more effective solutions and future-proof applications.
• Consistently assess and refine development processes and methods to improve team performance and product quality. Promote the use of automation

Change Management

• Ensure Agile standard methodologies are implemented and continuously improved as necessary.
• Ensure technology solutions align with architectural and evolving security standards and application changes are managed smoothly, adhering to standard processes and ensuring minimal disruption to business operations. Work with the team to manage and implement changes effectively in a fast-paced environment.

Process and Standards

• Promote accountability by regularly reviewing processes against operational benchmarks, ensuring continuous alignment with business objectives.
• Ensures work is aligned with established processes, JSOX and other internal controls (i.e., SDLC, change management, production control, following standards, architecture review, incident response, PCI and PII information security, etc.).
• Focus on continuous process improvement by implementing feedback loops that leverage data from operational incidents and performance metrics to refine processes over time.

Leadership and Development:

• Shows a commitment to professional development.
• Lead efforts to plan project staffing, forecast budget, and communicate progress to senior IT and Business leadership.
• Promote multi-functional skill development, ensuring team members have exposure to both operational (SRE, DevOps) and development practices to enhance their versatility.

United values diverse experiences, perspectives, and we encourage everyone who meets the minimum qualifications to apply. While having the “desired” qualifications make for a stronger candidate, we encourage applicants who may not feel they check ALL of those boxes! We are always looking for individuals who will bring something new to the table!

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree in IT, Business Administration, Computer Science or equivalent field of study
• 4+ years of application delivery and life cycle management experience
• Experience in leading digital transformation initiatives, driving innovation and modernization across the organization's application portfolio to meet evolving business demands.
• Understanding of digital platforms, tools, and emerging technologies (e.g., AWS, .Net CORE, AI, IoT, cloud computing,). Preferred: relevant to the aviation industry
• Experience with supervising highly critical applications that require 24/7 operational support, incident management, and ensuring high availability and uptime for critical applications.
• Demonstrable experience in managing cloud-native applications and services, including infrastructure as code, container orchestration, and cloud-based security practices.
• Proven track record of ownership and successful delivery
• Ability to prioritize projects and initiatives based on their alignment with business goals and strategic objectives.
• Experience maintaining scalable and reusable on tools and technologies.
• Experience in leading digital transformation initiatives, driving innovation and modernization across the organization's application portfolio to meet evolving business demands.
• Proficiency in managing software development projects, including familiarity with Agile, DevOps practices, and software lifecycle management.
• Ability to use data analytics to drive decision-making and improve digital products and services.
• Proven track record of leading and developing high-performing teams, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.
• Strong planning and organizational skills.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and the ability to clearly communicate ideas to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to quickly triage and drive the resolution effort for production support situations.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification

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

• Experience with High Availability systems, Cybersecurity, App Connect Enterprise toolset, ML, LLM, and AI
• Aviation industry knowledge or experience

 

United Airlines is an equal opportunity employer. United Airlines recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical ability, age, veteran status and other protected status as required by applicable law. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions. Please contact JobAccommodations@united.com to request accommodation.