Managing Director Workforce & Business Performance

As the Managing Director Workforce & Business Performance, you’ll lead the teams responsible for unifying Call Center Workforce Management, Labor Strategy, Vendor Management, and Supply Chain into a single, aligned engine that drives both strategic direction and day‑to‑day execution. You’ll set a multi‑year roadmap that expands forecasting, intraday management, adherence, and efficiency disciplines while embedding AI‑enabled transformation and strong change governance across the organization. You’ll guide vendor strategy—bringing new partners into the ecosystem, ensuring they reflect Southwest’s culture, and overseeing performance and compliance at scale. With a deep understanding of geo‑rationalization, labor dynamics, and operational requirements, you’ll serve as the connective tissue across Labor, Legal, Supply Chain, Operations, and HR to reduce risk, optimize financial and service outcomes, and ensure Southwest has the right people in the right places at the right times.

Additional details

• The culture of Southwest Airlines means we value the camaraderie, collaboration, and innovation that occurs when we come together and interact face-to-face at our vibrant Corporate Campus. Due to the nature of this role, you would be required to work from our Dallas, TX Headquarters facility during business hours. 

• U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available.

We’re committed to fair hiring practices and to making employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics. 

• 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

• Drive process reengineering, change management, and standardization of Labor processes to increase efficiency, reduce cost, and drive revenue enablement in alignment with the department's financial plan.
• Optimize the Customer care call‑center ecosystem, including geo‑rationalization of sites/partners, multi‑partner operating models, and service–cost trade‑off decisions across insourced and outsourced delivery.
• Set and maintain the multi‑year Customer care operations strategy and roadmap, proactively identifying value‑creation opportunities through business process improvements and technology enhancements, and aligning staffing, vendor capacity, and investment priorities across WFM, Vendor, Labor, and Supply Chain.
• Own department performance governance, including KPI frameworks, trend analysis, executive reporting, daily operational cadence, forecasting, and integration of Voice-of-Customer insights to inform decisions and support Executive/Board updates.
• Oversee seasonal, near-term, long-term workforce strategy and operational planning, ensuring analytics support day-of operations and underpin accurate labor, vendor, and capacity forecasts.
• Develop and implement labor economics and contract strategy, including CBA analysis, labor-cost modeling, executive education, and alignment of negotiating priorities with operational strategy.
• Run integrated workforce and vendor sourcing, governance, and financial ownership, spanning vendor selection and contracting, performance and capacity management, SLAs/OLAs, privacy and resiliency, QBRs/escalations, and model lifecycle and change control, with multi‑million‑dollar budget and productivity accountability.
• Support large-scale disruption management and cross-functional coordination, ensuring workforce organizational readiness for surges and irregular operations.
• Create and maintain a formal interlock between Technology, Labor, Supply Chain and Workforce Management, ensuring labor plans, vendor capacity, and supply constraints are aligned and executable.
• May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

• Expert knowledge of strategic planning and resource alignment to develop long‑term, enterprise‑aligned roadmaps.
• Ability to serve as a visionary leader with proven expertise in strategic planning, workforce modeling, performance optimization, and cross‑functional collaboration to drive enterprise outcomes.
• Skilled in leading business transformation and process improvement initiatives at scale, ensuring measurable improvements in cost, service, and operational performance.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and coordinate cross‑functional alignment across technical, labor, vendor, and operational partners to drive integrated decision‑making.
• Knowledge of labor relations, CBA economics, and contractual frameworks, including labor‑cost modeling to inform strategic and operational choices.
• Skilled in executive‑level performance governance and financial analysis, including KPI design, analytics, forecasting, and cost‑benefit evaluation to drive decisions.
• Knowledge of operational planning principles and regulatory and CBA constraints within large, complex operations.
• Skilled in complex vendor negotiations and technology procurement/commercial structures (including pricing and licensing models, intellectual property, SLAs, and CLM platforms) across SaaS, cloud, licensing, and BPO categories.
• Ability to embed risk, privacy, and governance disciplines into operations through collaboration with Legal, Labor, and Supply Chain.
• Skilled in structured problem‑solving and decision frameworks (e.g., scenario analysis and prioritization matrices) to convert insights into execution across WFM, Vendor, Labor, and Supply Chain.

• Required: High School Diploma

• Demonstrated experience in directly or indirectly leading team(s)
• Advanced level Business Acumen in functional area
• Seasoned and specialized knowledge in:
  • Call‑center operations and ecosystem leadership
  • Workforce management and capacity planning
  • Strategic and operational planning with disruption‑response leadership
  • Unionized workforce and contract administration
  • Vendor operating models with sourcing/procurement/governance experience

• N/A

• Ability to perform work duties from [limited space workstation/desk/office area] for extended periods of time
• Ability to communicate and interact with others in the English language to meet the demands of the job
• Ability to use a computer and other office productivity tools with sufficient speed and accuracy to meet the demands of the job

• Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines

Pay & Benefits:

• Competitive market salary from $216,700 per year to $240,800 per year* depending on qualifications and experience. For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the company.

Benefits you’ll love:   

• Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights (your eligible dependents too) 

• Southwest will help fund your 401(k) retirement savings with Company contributions up to 9.3% of your eligible earnings**

• Potential for annual ProfitSharing contribution in the Southwest Retirement Savings Plan- when Southwest profits, you profit***

• Competitive health insurance for you and your eligible dependents (including pets)

• Southwest offers health plan coverage options that start from the very first day of employment. You will have 30 days to select and enroll in your health plan with coverage retroactively available to your first day of employment.

• Explore more Benefits you’ll love: https://careers.southwestair.com/benefits

​*Pay amount does not guarantee employment for any particular period of time.

**401(k) match contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and applicable IRS limits.

***ProfitSharing contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and are made at the discretion of the Company.