Head of Capacity

Description

At Heathrow, we’re on a mission to make every journey better, and capacity planning is at the heart of that ambition. As Head of Capacity, you’ll play a pivotal role in ensuring our airport operates efficiently today while preparing for the demands of tomorrow. This is a senior leadership position where your decisions will directly influence how millions of passengers experience Heathrow every year.

You’ll lead a team dedicated to optimising how we use our existing infrastructure and identifying opportunities to unlock additional capacity. Success in this role means balancing operational resilience with growth, working closely with airline partners, project teams, and internal stakeholders to deliver solutions that keep Heathrow moving smoothly and sustainably.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategies to maximise the use of existing airport capacity across terminals, airfield, and security operations.
• Lead engagement with airlines to understand their operational needs and align capacity planning with commercial and passenger experience goals.
• Oversee analysis of bottlenecks and design solutions, including business cases for infrastructure changes such as security lane adjustments or airfield layout improvements.
• Collaborate with project teams on major initiatives like baggage system upgrades and terminal optimisation to ensure capacity considerations are embedded from the start.
• Monitor performance against capacity plans, reporting on key metrics and driving continuous improvement initiatives.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in capacity planning, operational strategy, or infrastructure optimisation within a complex organisation. 
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and drive collaboration across multiple teams. 
• Knowledge of how data, analytics, modelling, automation, and AI can be leveraged to improve business performance and decision-making. 
• Proven track record of leading large-scale change initiatives, transformation programmes, or complex cross-functional projects. 
• Experience developing, evaluating, and presenting compelling business cases to support operational and infrastructure investment decisions. 
• Expertise in capacity planning, scheduling, resource optimisation, and balancing demand against organisational capability and priorities.

Ideal Skills

• Background in aviation, transport, or large-scale infrastructure projects.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements and industry best practices related to airport operations.