Head - Inflight Product and Design (Gurugram, HO) presso Air India

Position Title:

Head – Inflight Product & Design

Reports To:

Chief Customer Experience Officer

Role Level:

CXO-1

• Lead the design and develop innovative product offerings for customers including in-flight products (seats, cabin innovation, inflight entertainment, and connectivity) to enhance overall passenger experience.

• This role involves conducting market research, collaborating with stakeholders, overseeing product development lifecycles, and implementing strategies to improve user experience and satisfaction

Strategic Leadership:

• Develop and drive the vision and strategy for inflight and other products, aligning with Air India's overall brand and goals.
• Continuously identify market trends, customer preferences, and emerging technologies to make informed design decisions.
• Develop and manage budgets for product design projects, ensuring cost-effective design solutions without compromising Air India’s standard and quality.
• Lead sustainability efforts by integrating eco-friendly materials and practices into product design and development processes.

Product Design & Development:

• Oversee the entire product development lifecycle, from concept ideation to final production and launch, for seating, galley cabin interiors, and other products.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders like engineering, operations, commercial and other teams to define aircraft configurations, including class/seat arrangements and lighting configurations and ensure the feasibility and practicality of designs.
• Stay up to date with aviation regulations and industry standards to ensure that inflight products meet safety and compliance requirements.
• Conduct user research, gather passenger feedback, and conduct usability tests to drive customer-centric design decisions.
• Create designs that enhance comfort, convenience, and enjoyment for passengers during their journey.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with suppliers, vendors, and partners to source high-quality materials and services for inflight product development.
• Improve and maintain existing cabin products to deliver an exceptional in-flight experience for customers.
• Work on enhancements and modifications based on customer feedback and changing industry trends.
• Overseeing stakeholders' overall cabin maintenance schedules for cabin products.
• Collaborate with maintenance teams to ensure timely inspections and updates.
• Formulate and implement strategies for enhancing In-Flight Entertainment, emphasizing user experience and NPS improvement.
• Develop and implement plans to enhance in-flight connectivity, ensuring passengers have reliable access to entertainment and communication services.
• Collaborate with In-flight entertainment & connectivity providers to optimize performance. 

Team Management:

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of talented product designers, ensuring a collaborative and creative work environment.
• Assign and prioritize design projects and monitor progress to meet deadlines and quality standards.

Any other additional responsibility could be assigned to the role holder from time to time as a standalone project or regular work. The same would be suitably represented in the Primary responsibilities and agreed between the incumbent, reporting officer and HR.

Strong Leadership capabilities

Strong Problem-solving skills

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Strong time management and prioritization skills

Stakeholder management skills

Excellent Project management and delivery skills

Operational Performance Metrics

• On-time delivery
• Number of projects
• Budget Adherence

Product and Service Metrics

• Number of product improvements

Stakeholder Engagement and Risk Management Metrics

• Relationships and communication
• Risk management

Leadership Interfaces

Head Customer Experience

• Provide regular updates on ongoing designs and development projects highlighting issues, adherence to timelines, etc.

Internal Interfaces

Product designers and cross functional teams

• Ensure all design and development activities are on track and drive teams to meet program budget and timelines

External Interfaces

Third Party Vendors

• Managing services / solutions provided by third party service providers ensuring they are meeting SLAs, and other service agreements

Minimum Education Requirement

• Bachelor's Degree with work experience in Product Design
• MBA/PGDM/PGBM is preferred.
• PMP/CAD or equivalent certification preferred

Minimum Requirement

Desired

Experience

• 15+ years of product design experience, gathering requirements, supervising end-to-end design development and production execution, certification, testing, quality management etc by the OEM.
• understanding CAD designs, knowledge and understanding of aircraft interiors OEMs including seats manufacturers, CMF designers and hands-on experience of design to development lifecycle
• At least 10 years of experience in aviation industry

• 17+ years of relevant experience in airline industry of product design, IFEC (inflight entertainment & communication), cabin interiors design
• Understanding of competition, trends, future positioning of different airlines etc. is also preferred with an objective to stay ahead of competition.