Senior Manager - Aviation Advisory
About the role
Our client is a specialist management consultancy building a dedicated infrastructure and capital advisory practice. They are looking for a Senior Manager to join at a pivotal moment, working with major aviation clients at the most senior levels, advising on strategy, governance, and programme mobilisation.
This is a genuine advisory role with real ownership. You will lead complex delivery, build lasting client relationships, and take an active part in business development with growing commercial autonomy. The work is substantive from day one.
What you will do
Advisory and programme leadership
- Advise senior sponsors (including SROs, C-suite, and programme boards) on strategy, governance, and mobilisation; provide the independent perspective that enables clients to make well-founded decisions under pressure
- Lead the design and structuring of complex programmes: operating model, delivery architecture, team design, and the conditions required for successful mobilisation
- Own the quality of advisory output on an engagement, from initial framing through to final deliverable
Stakeholder engagement
- Lead senior stakeholder engagement across operational, commercial, and executive audiences
- Translate complex, multi-strand programmes into clear, compelling narratives that earn buy-in at board level
- Build relationships that extend beyond the immediate engagement
Commercial and account management
- Contribute to account management and business development, managing the commercial process with growing autonomy
- Support the development of the practice's service offerings, methodology, and market positioning
People and team development
- Build and develop the engagement team; own the development of junior colleagues as a deliberate part of your role
- Model consulting standards and contribute to a culture where quality and feedback are embedded in how the team works
What you will bring
Experience
- A track record of owning and delivering complex transformation or advisory engagements as a management consultant (not gained solely in-house) - spanning operating model design, organisational change, capital programme strategy, or infrastructure mobilisation
- Strong single-programme ownership with evidence of delivery accountability end-to-end
- Experience operating as a trusted advisor to Director-level, SRO, or C-suite stakeholders, shaping the approach, not just delivering within it
- Commercial involvement that goes beyond delivery: contributing to and managing the commercial process with limited support
- Experience developing and managing consulting teams, with a genuine investment in the growth of junior colleagues
- Aviation experience preferred but not essential; a desire to work and grow in Aviation is a must
Knowledge
- Strong grasp of the strategic and organisational dimensions of large programme mobilisation: governance, sponsorship structures, stakeholder alignment, and the conditions that make complex programmes succeed
- Ability to assess complex client situations quickly and translate ambiguity into structured, actionable approaches
- Understanding of what it takes for change to land inside large, operationally complex organisations, not just strategy, but adoption, culture, and capability
Character
- Builds trust with senior clients rapidly and sustains it - relationships generate work beyond the immediate brief
- Brings structure to ambiguous situations without over-engineering them; comfortable in early-phase, scope-defining work
- Genuinely invested in the people around them - less experienced colleagues grow faster because of your involvement
- Operates with senior-level autonomy while remaining a team player
Why this role
You will have genuine advisory and commercial ownership from the outset, the interesting work is not held elsewhere. You will be part of a firm that is actively building its infrastructure and capital advisory presence and wants people who help shape what that looks like.
Expect access to leadership, visible contribution from day one, and the autonomy to do the role properly in an environment that takes quality seriously and invests in the people who deliver it.