The Role
As Manager Technology AI Ops/Support, you will lead a team to ensure reliable AI operations, improve incident response, and drive operational efficiency while partnering with Engineering and Product Teams.
Summary Generated by Built In
Department:
TechnologyOur 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 Manager Technology supporting Southwest’s AI Operations & Support Pod, you’ll lead the Pod responsible for ensuring AI and agentic systems run reliably and deliver measurable value in production environments. This will stand up and lead a new AI Ops organization that defines how AI systems are supported, monitored, and continuously improved at scale. You’ll establish service level standards, on‑call models, and a follow‑the‑sun support framework across global Teams, while driving strong outcomes in reliability, incident response, and operational efficiency. Partnering closely with Engineering, Platform, and Product Teams, you’ll help connect operations and development—ensuring issues are resolved quickly and translated into long‑term improvements that reduce repeat incidents. With a focus on AWS‑based systems, observability, and evolving AI/ML technologies, you’ll guide your Pod to balance speed, stability, and cost as AI adoption grows. This role offers the opportunity to build and grow a high‑performing team while shaping how Southwest supports and scales AI capabilities across the enterprise.
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, support, and influence the achievement of the mission, goals and objectives of the department and organization
- Participate fully in organizational processes and initiatives, i.e. performance management, interviewing, budgeting, training, etc.
- Lead the resolution of organization, team and individual issues, making appropriate decision
- Develop and execute strategies and processes to improve performance and the value of products and services provided
- Lead cross-functional Teams to deliver solutions and services to meet enterprise needs
- Provide Technical thought Leadership related to assigned functional areas
- Deliver technology solutions using best practices to achieve maximum Team productivity while delivering high quality products
- Stay abreast of emerging trends, processes, and solutions related to assigned responsibilities
- Build strong, collaborative relationships and credibility while influencing and driving change across respective Business and Technology Teams
- Work with Technology and business partners to measure financial benefits and demonstrable business value
- May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Knowledge of business/Leadership principals, including planning, organizing, directing, developing, and supervising
- Knowledge of personnel practices and regulations
- Knowledge of software development practices, concepts, methodologies, tools and trends
- Proficient knowledge of project management methodologies
- Skilled in excellent partnering, negotiation and communication in order to facilitate interactions with business Customers and technology teams
- Ability to provide tactical leadership for Team(s)
- Ability to use appropriate motivation and influence techniques to achieve desired Team results
- Ability to set and manage stakeholder expectations
- Ability to deliver quality projects on time and within budget
- Ability to manage projects using the organization's project management methodology
Education
- Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information systems or similar fields of study or equivalent advanced level experience
Experience
- Required:
- Demonstrated experience in directly or indirectly leading team(s)
- Fully functioning, broad knowledge in:
- Business and/or Information Technology environment
- Leading teams and providing work direction
- 8-12 years relevant work-related / leadership experience
- 3+ years of People leadership of agentic/AI/SWE teams of 8+
- 3+ years of Delivery ownership for AI/ML or agentic products in production
- 3+ years of Technical depth in modern AI stack (LLMs, agentic frameworks, AWS)
- 3+ years of Hiring and growing AI/SWE engineers in a competitive market
- 5+ years of Agile delivery at scale—Scrum/SAFe, roadmap, dependency mgmt
- Preferred:
- Prior GIC/captive build-out or pod stand-up
- Airline/travel/large enterprise IT exposure
- Vendor management & FinOps for AI workloads
- Public thought leadership in AI/agentic (talks, blogs, OSS)
- Driving back-office/ETO automation programs
Other Qualifications
- Must meet confidentiality expectations as to confidential, proprietary and sensitive Company information
- Ability to work extended hours as needed
Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Please print/save this job description because it won't be available after you apply.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information systems or similar fields of study
- 8-12 years relevant work-related leadership experience
- 3+ years of People leadership of agentic/AI/SWE teams of 8+
- 3+ years of Delivery ownership for AI/ML or agentic products in production
- 3+ years of Technical depth in modern AI stack
- 5+ years of Agile delivery at scale
- Prior GIC/captive build-out or pod stand-up
- Airline/travel/large enterprise IT exposure
Southwest Airlines Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Southwest Airlines and has not been reviewed or approved by Southwest Airlines.
-
Pay Growth & Progression — Pay progression is described as materially improving after major 2024 union agreements, especially for pilots and flight attendants. Compensation satisfaction is framed as stronger over time as step scales and seniority accumulate.
-
Retirement Support — Retirement support stands out through a dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match and the presence of profit-sharing contributions that can add to retirement savings. Stock purchase access is also positioned as an additional ownership-oriented component of total rewards.
-
Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing and lifestyle value is elevated by extensive space-available travel privileges and broad travel-related discounts that can materially offset personal travel costs. Recognition mechanisms like points-based rewards are also positioned as an added lifestyle-oriented perk.
Southwest Airlines Insights
Am I A Good Fit?
Get Personalized Job Insights.
Our AI-powered fit analysis compares your resume with a job listing so you know if your skills & experience align.
Success! Refresh the page to see how your skills align with this role.
The Company
What We Do
At Southwest Airlines we connect People to what’s important in their lives—that also means connecting our Employees to what’s important in their lives! Our Employees value the opportunity to work hard, be creative, and have fun on the job. Southwest Airlines recognizes, respects, and values differences. By fostering a culture that embraces and utilizes our diversity, we create competitive advantages in teamwork and innovation that contribute to our overall success.
