Senior Delivery Manager Jobs in Illinois

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Job Overview and Responsibilities

The Sr Manager - Ops Product Delivery leads a team of change and delivery professionals, either full time or contractors, responsible for the design, delivery and adoption of new products and processes across the Air Operations and Finance organization.

This role owns the change management portfolio for a defined set of enterprise and departmental initiatives, setting strategy, sequencing work against operational capacity, and holding the team accountable for measurable adoption outcomes. It is accountable for the quality and consistency of change management practice, not only for the delivery of individual initiatives.

This role translates senior leader intent into an executable change agenda. It partners directly with officers, project sponsors and cross-functional leaders to align initiative scope, secure resourcing, resolve competing priorities, and make the trade-off decisions that keep adoption on track when operational conditions shift. It combines change management methodology with expertise in process optimization and continuous improvement to meet the challenges of internal customers across Flight Operations, Inflight and Technical Operations, as well as Finance.

This role is also responsible for raising the capability of the wider organization through standards, playbooks, tooling and the development of a change champion network. Work is informed by data analysis, employee feedback and leader input.

The Sr Manager establishes the governance, measurement frameworks and reinforcement mechanisms that sustain adoption after go-live, and reports portfolio health, adoption metrics and risks to senior leadership on a recurring basis.

• Own the change management strategy and delivery roadmap for a portfolio of enterprise and departmental initiatives, sequencing work against operational capacity and business priorities.
• Lead, coach and/or develop internal or contractor team, including hiring, performance management, workload balancing and capability building.
• Serve as the change partner to officers, project sponsors and cross-functional leaders across departments, securing alignment and resolving competing priorities and resistance
• Establish project structure, governance and escalation paths across the portfolio, and review the impact assessments, stakeholder analyses and readiness evaluations the team produces.
• Help define change management KPIs, and measurement frameworks, and report adoption, sustainment and change effectiveness to senior leadership.
• Direct process optimization initiatives across multiple business functions to streamline workflows, eliminate inefficiency and improve the quality of organizational output.
Set the standards, playbooks and tools for change and continuous improvement practice, including oversight of communication and training plans and the change champion network.

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree or 4 years of relevant work experience
• Change Management, Business Accumen, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, Organizational Development, or related field
• 5+ years of related experience
• Ability to lead, coach and develop a team of professionals, set clear performance expectations and hold others accountable for outcomes
• Ability to influence and advise senior leaders and officers, including navigating resistance and delivering difficult messages with credibility
• Knowledge of end-to-end change management methodology, including stakeholder analysis, impact assessment, readiness, reinforcement and sustainment
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with expertise in data-driven decision-making and portfolio prioritization
• Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder management abilities across frontline, management and officer audiences
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, and to shift between the two as operational conditions change
Adaptability and resilience in leading teams and business partners through ambiguity and sustained change.

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Master's degree
• MBA or a master's degree in Organizational Development or Industrial Engineering
• Direct people leadership experience in a matrixed or multi-site operating environment; airline or other 24/7 operations experience
• PROSCI or equivalent Change Management certification highly desirable
• Six Sigma Green Belt
• Black Belt or Master Black Belt preferred
• Deep understanding of Lean/Six Sigma methodologies and tools
• Proficiency in project management and performance tracking tools (e.g., Power BI, Minitab, Smartsheet, Asana)