Aviation Fleet Manager

The Wildlife Conservation Society is seeking an Aviation Fleet Manager in Kigali, Rwanda. This full-time role involves leading the aviation team, ensuring safety and compliance, managing flight operations, and developing aviation strategies. The AFM will oversee aircraft and assets, promote a safety culture, and implement operational procedures in line with regulations. The position requires coordination with various staff and stakeholders within the organization.
Position: Aviation Fleet Manager (AFM)
Reports to: Safety and Compliance: Aviation Committee (Executive Committee)
Administration: Director of the Africa Protected Area Management Unit
Location: Kigali, Rwanda (Depending on Operations needs)
Country Program/Sector: Africa Protected Areas Management Unit (APAMU)
Capacity: Global
Position Type: Full-time
Coordinates with: Landscape/country/regional staff, Regional Directors, WCS landscape leads, landscape/country/regional staff, thematic/cross-cutting staff, WCS APAMU team,

About Us
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a private, nonprofit U.S. organisation founded in 1895. Its mission is to preserve wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, developing science-based solutions, and taking conservation action that benefits nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, a presence in more than 60 countries, and experience in creating more than 150 protected areas around the world, WCS has accumulated the biological knowledge, cultural understanding, and partnerships necessary to ensure that wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organisations, this knowledge is applied to address species, habitat, and ecosystem management issues that are critical to improving the quality of life for poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct use of natural resources.

Job Purpose:
The Aviation Fleet Manager (AFM) is a senior management role responsible for providing leadership to the WCS aviation team, with delegated responsibility bestowed by the Aviation Committee. The position interacts with the Aviation Committee members on relevant matters pertaining to aviation safety and compliance, and with operational personnel, senior managers and departmental heads throughout the organisation. The AFM is responsible for overseeing/managing and controlling all aspects of the WCS Flight Operations Department (flight crew, flight operations, flight crew and operations, training, maintenance, safety and compliance management, standard operating procedures, assets, etc.) to ensure all mission sets, positioning, maintenance and ferry flights and aviation support operations (both owned and non-owned) are conducted safely and efficiently while complying fully with all regulatory and company requirements.

Major Responsibilities:
• Accountable/responsible for the company’s aircraft and related assets, equipment, handling and safety.
• Develops and implements aviation strategies, activities and budgets, including manpower, training, aircraft, equipment, and cost modelling to meet the organisation’s aviation support requirements.
• Models and promotes a strong safety culture, encourages honesty and integrity within the workplace, fosters safety practices, and ensures effective safety reporting and continuous improvement.
• Establish and implement the flight operations department’s operational SOPs and safety management system to ensure implementation of industry-standard aviation operations for both owned and non-owned aircraft, including ensuring compliance with all company, Federal Aviation Authority, appropriate regulatory authority in the country of operations and international regulations, as well as aircraft insurers and manufacturer policies.
• Oversight of all flight operations to ensure the highest possible standards of flight safety are complied with by setting and monitoring the training, flight planning and operations, implementing risk management strategies, mission set delivery, security, and safety reporting.
• Ensures the implementation and oversight of the Safety Management System/Aviation Safety Action Group (ASAG), intending to inform and continually improve hazard identification and safety risk mitigation, assuring decisions are made to acceptable levels of aviation and corporate risk and corrective action procedures/processes are identified and implemented.
• Ensures the maintenance and airworthiness of all aircraft in accordance with regulations, compliance requirements and best practices.
• Handles the Emergency Response Plan and makes critical decisions under pressure.
• Provides overall staff supervision, performance management and capacity building for the flight operations staff with regular communication/feedback between sites and central management.
• Provides technical support to aviation conservation applications to strengthen aviation’s impact on WCS conservation goals.