Department:
Customer CARE
Our Company Promise
We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.
Job Description:
As a Sr Manager CARE Workforce Management Strategy, you’ll shape how Southwest Customer CARE plans, supports, and transforms its workforce to deliver dependable service for our Customers and schedules our Employees can build their lives around. You’ll lead the end-to-end strategy for forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, intraday operations, and vendor workforce performance across voice, digital, and back-office operations. Partnering closely with Leaders across Operations, Finance, People Operations, Technology, Vendor Management, and Strategy, you’ll translate business plans and demand insights into workforce investments, staffing scenarios, technology roadmaps, and executive recommendations. You’ll also modernize Workforce Management through advanced forecasting, automation, and AI-enabled capabilities while developing Leaders and building a Team recognized as trusted experts. With meaningful authority, visibility, and influence, your leadership will strengthen service, productivity, operational readiness, and the long-term financial health of Southwest.
Additional Details
- The culture of Southwest Airlines means we value the camaraderie, collaboration, and innovation that occurs when we come together and interact face-to-face at our vibrant Corporate Campus. Due to the nature of this role, you would be required to work from our Dallas, TX Headquarters facility during business hours.
- U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available.
We’re committed to fair hiring practices and to making employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics.
Model the Southwest Way
- Guide and lead team members using SWA talent management practices to coach, develop and engage employees
- Adhere to Company values and competencies to foster a culture of inclusion, recognition, and support of a safe work environment
- Invest in leadership and self-growth through participating in continuous learning and development
Responsibilities
- Lead the Department Workforce Management (WFM) strategy, establishing long-range workforce, capacity, productivity, operating model, and capability plans aligned with organizational priorities, Customer commitments, growth objectives, and financial goals
- Translate business plans and demand outlooks into labor requirements, capacity strategies, staffing scenarios, workforce investments, and budget inputs that support business, service, and financial objectives
- Establish planning frameworks, governance, assumptions, performance measures, and decision routines that connect business planning, forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, intraday operations, and vendor workforce execution
- Direct demand forecasting and capacity modeling across voice, digital, and back-office operations, evaluating demand, productivity, workforce assumptions, and capacity risks to support workforce decisions and operational readiness
- Lead Intraday WFM operations across internal and vendor-supported Customer operations, evaluating service levels, staffing coverage, schedule adherence, productivity, forecast variance, capacity utilization, and recovery performance against approved workforce plans
- Provide strategic oversight of vendor WFM performance through scorecards, governance routines, and operational reviews; evaluate staffing, service, productivity, adherence, forecast variance, and recovery effectiveness, identify risks, and drive corrective actions with Vendor Management and operational Leaders
- Lead workforce readiness for disruptions, high-volume events, new products, digital capabilities, business initiatives, and demand shifts by ensuring contingency plans, staffing strategies, vendor capacity options, and recovery plans are developed and aligned
- Establish the WFM technology, automation, AI, and forecasting strategy, including platform evaluation, implementation oversight, governance, adoption monitoring, and measurement of business outcomes to guide investment decisions and capability roadmaps
- Translate workforce, operational, Customer, vendor, technology, and financial information into executive recommendations, communicating impacts to service, capacity, productivity, business risk, investment priorities, and financial performance; lead strategic initiatives and continuous improvement efforts to achieve business objectives
- Recruit, lead, coach, develop, and retain WFM Leaders and Team Members while building strategic planning, analytical, technology, AI, and business partnership capabilities across the Team
- May perform other job duties as directed by Employee’s Leaders
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Knowledge of strategic WFM, long-range business planning, operating models, governance, and practices across forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, intraday operations, and vendor workforce operations
- Knowledge of workforce financial planning, labor budgeting, staffing economics, productivity, cost-to-serve, capacity modeling, and methods for evaluating service, cost, and investment tradeoffs
- Knowledge of Customer or contact center operations, including multi-channel demand, vendor-supported operations, service-level performance, staffing requirements, disruption response, and Customer and Employee experience considerations
- Knowledge of advanced forecasting methods, predictive analytics, AI-enabled forecasting, automation, WFM technology/tools, routing capabilities, data governance, and enterprise reporting environments
- Skilled in converting business strategies and financial objectives into long-range workforce requirements, capacity plans, labor assumptions, scenarios, and actionable recommendations
- Skilled in analyzing workforce, operational, vendor, Customer, technology, and financial data to identify emerging trends, quantify risks and tradeoffs, test scenarios, and recommend actions
- Skilled in defining business requirements, use cases, governance, adoption measures, and performance expectations for AI-enabled and automated WFM capabilities
- Skilled in translating complex workforce strategies, scenarios, risks, and technology opportunities into clear executive-level narratives, presentations, and recommendations
- Ability to lead, coach, develop, and engage Leaders and Team Members while setting strategic priorities, allocating resources, and creating accountability for Team and business results
- Ability to build trusted partnerships, influence decisions, advise senior Leaders, and align stakeholders across the Enterprise
Education
- Required: High School Diploma or GED
Experience
- Demonstrated experience in directly or indirectly leading team(s)
- Required: Fully functioning, broad knowledge in:
- Leading WFM functions across forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, intraday operations, and vendor-supported operations in a multi-channel Customer or contact center environment
- Developing long-range workforce strategies, labor forecasts, staffing and capacity models, workforce budgets, productivity strategies, and planning scenarios that support business and financial objectives
- Leading workforce readiness and response for disruptions, demand fluctuations, new products, digital capabilities, and high-volume operating events
- Advancing WFM technology capabilities, including AI-enabled forecasting, automation, predictive analytics, digital demand planning, implementation of business requirements, operating controls, performance measures, and cross-functional adoption
- Tableau/Power BI Reporting, Call Routing, Future Skill, SQL, and/or Python
- Preferred: Experience with Aspect for forecasting and workload management
- Preferred: Experience with AWS Cloud supporting call routing
- Preferred: Experience with call containment analytics and forecasting
- Preferred: Experience operating in a labor-represented environment
Licensing/Certification
Physical Abilities
- Ability to perform work duties from limited space workstation/desk/office area for extended periods of time
- Ability to communicate and interact with others in the English language to meet the demands of the job
- Ability to use a computer and other office productivity tools with sufficient speed and accuracy to meet the demands of the job
Other Qualifications
- Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines
- Must be a U.S. citizen or have the authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986
- Must be at least 18 years of age
- Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines
Pay & Benefits
- Competitive market salary from $160,550 per year to $178,400 per year* depending on qualifications and experience. For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the Company.
Benefits you’ll love
- Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights (your eligible dependents too)
- Southwest will help fund your Retirement Savings Plan, which includes a dollar-for-dollar 401(k) Company match contribution of up to 9.3% of your eligible earnings**
- Potential for annual profit-sharing contribution in the Southwest Retirement Savings Plan—when Southwest profits, you profit***
- Competitive health insurance for you and your eligible dependents
- Southwest offers health plan coverage options that start from the very first day of employment. You'll have 30 days to select and enroll in your health plan, and coverage will be retroactively available to your first day of employment.
- Explore more benefits you’ll love: https://careers.southwestair.com/benefits
*Pay amount doesn’t guarantee employment for any particular period.
**401(k) Company match contributions are subject to the plan’s vesting schedule. Match contributions may vary based on the position.
*** Profit-sharing contributions are subject to the Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and are made at the discretion of the Company.
Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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