The Project Manager is the single owner of an aircraft from induction to delivery. This role must demonstrate an unwavering commitment to exceptional customer service, consistently prioritizing customer satisfaction while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, composure, diplomacy, and grace, even in high-pressure, challenging, or emotionally charged situations. The ideal candidate will possess an outgoing, enthusiastic, and engaging personality, with a genuine passion for building strong customer relationships and creating exceptional experiences. This individual should take pride in representing Yingling Aviation, going above and beyond to ensure every customer interaction reinforces our reputation for excellence and demonstrates why Yingling Aviation is the premier choice for aviation services.
Every assigned aircraft has one Project Manager, accountable for its schedule, its scope, its margin, and the customer’s experience across every department the aircraft touches: maintenance, avionics, interiors, paint, structures, parts, quality, and billing. This role does not supervise technicians. The role leads through the schedule, the numbers, and clear, early communication. When anyone asks where an aircraft stands, what it will cost, and when it will be done, the Project Manager has the answer.
Key Responsibilities & Performance Pillars
1. Aircraft Ownership: Induction to Delivery
- Induction:Accepts each job from Sales at a formal handoff, walking the approved quote, scope caveats, customer expectations, and contract terms before the aircraft arrives. Identifies long-lead parts, engineering, and outside services, and confirms deposits are received per contract before work begins.
- Master Schedule:Builds and owns one integrated schedule for the aircraft across all departments, with the critical path, department handoffs, inspection points, and parts dependencies. Secures hour and date commitments from each Department Manager.
- Daily Control:Holds a short daily status with the Leads working the aircraft; removes roadblocks the same day or escalates them. Keeps the aircraft’s status in Corridor current.
- Delivery:Drives the aircraft to on-time delivery: all work complete, Quality release obtained, logbooks and paperwork complete, final invoice issued, and customer walk-through performed.
- Closeout:Within ten business days of delivery, completes a closeout review (quoted versus actual hours by department, delivery slip by cause and department, parts and outside-service variance, change orders, concessions, and lessons learned) and returns the findings to Sales so the next quote is better.
2. Job Financial Ownership
- Job Budget:Before work starts, converts the approved quote into a job budget by department (labor hours, parts, and outside services) in Corridor. That budget is the baseline every department works against.
- Weekly Job Cost Review:Reviews hours consumed versus budget by department every week, forecasts estimate-to-complete and projected margin, and escalates any projected overrun to the Director before it happens.
- Scope Control & Change Orders:Ensures no work is performed outside the approved scope without a written, customer-approved change order. Presents every squawk to the customer promptly with a labor and parts estimate, and tracks approval turnaround so aircraft do not sit waiting on decisions.
- Billing Accuracy:Ensures progress billings are issued per contract terms and that the final invoice captures every approved squawk, part, outside service, freight, and travel charge. Nothing performed goes unbilled.
- WIP & Month-End:Keeps job progress and charges accurate so month-end WIP recognition reflects the actual state of the aircraft. Answers Finance’s questions on assigned jobs during close.
- Aircraft Release & Collections:Coordinates with Accounts Receivable so aircraft are released in accordance with the Company’s credit policy. Releasing an aircraft with an open balance requires Finance approval.
- Concessions:May recommend a concession or write-off on an assigned job, with the cause documented, but may not approve one.
3. Customer & Stakeholder Communication
- Customer Updates:Serves as the customer’s primary operational contact during the event. Provides a written status at least weekly (progress, open squawks, schedule, and cost-to-date against quote) and immediately whenever anything changes.
- No Surprises:Tells the customer and internal leadership about schedule or cost risk as soon as it is known, with options. Never at delivery.
- Internal Alignment:Keeps Sales, Department Managers, Materials, Quality, and Billing working from the same schedule and the same facts.
4. Quality & Compliance
- Quality Independence:Respects the independent authority of Quality. Plans inspection time into the schedule rather than compressing it to recover a date.
- Documentation:Ensures customer approvals, change orders, and work order records meet FAA and Company documentation standards.
Decision Rights & Authority
Decision
This Role
Priorities, sequence, and schedule for assigned aircraft
Decides; resource conflicts between aircraft go to the Director
Technician assignments
No authority; the Department Manager decides
Out-of-scope work
Obtains customer approval; cannot authorize work without it
Customer communication on status, schedule, and cost
Owns
Discounts, concessions, and labor write-offs
Recommends only
Releasing an aircraft with an open balance
No authority; Finance approves
Airworthiness release of an aircraft
No authority; Quality decides
Dollar limits are defined in the Company’s approval authority matrix, maintained by Finance.
Measures of Success
Measure
How It Is Measured
Reviewed
On-time delivery
Delivered on or before the committed date
Per aircraft
Job margin
Actual margin versus quoted margin
Per aircraft
Job ELR
Quoted hours earned actual hours worked
Weekly
Revenue leakage
Out-of-scope work performed without a change order; charges missing from the invoice
Per aircraft
Squawk approval cycle time
Time from discrepancy found to customer decision
Weekly
Invoice timeliness
Final invoice issued on or before delivery
Per aircraft
Customer satisfaction
Post-delivery customer survey
Per aircraft
Closeout completion
Closeout review completed within ten business days
Per aircraft
Targets for each measure are set annually with the COO and Finance and documented in the individual performance plan.
Supervisory Structure & Framework
- Freedom to Act:Works with high autonomy on assigned aircraft under the general direction of the Director of Customer Operations.
- Influence Without Authority:Leads Department Managers, Leads, and technicians through the schedule and the facts rather than a reporting line.
Role Competencies
- Ownership:Treats every assigned aircraft as their own, from first call to final walk-through.
- Financial Literacy:Reads a job cost report, forecasts estimate-to-complete, and knows where every dollar of margin was won or lost.
- Communication Under Pressure:Delivers bad news early and plainly, to customers and to leadership, with options attached.
- Organization:Manages several aircraft and many handoffs at once without losing detail.
Qualifications & Requirements
- Experience:5+ years in aircraft maintenance, modification, or MRO operations, including 2+ years managing multi-department aircraft projects or an equivalent coordination role.
- Financial Experience:Demonstrated experience managing job cost against a quote, including change orders and billing.
- Technical Background:FAA A&P certificate or equivalent hands-on technical background strongly preferred; must be able to read work packages and discrepancy write-ups and understand what the work involves.
- Regulatory Knowledge:Working knowledge of FAA maintenance documentation requirements.
- Systems:Advanced Excel; MRO ERP systems (Corridor preferred); project scheduling tools.
- Education:Bachelor’s degree preferred. PMP or equivalent project management certification preferred.
Yingling Aviation is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.
Except where prohibited by state law, all offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test.
Yingling Aviation uses E-Verify.
