Where graduates takeoff
Sophie, Senior Program Manager – Transformation & Fleet
Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical & Aerospace)
2014 Graduate
Why did you choose the Jetstar Graduate Program?
I wanted to work in aviation but wasn’t sure exactly what types of roles were available. My aim was to explore different parts of the industry and understand what was possible before diving in. The Jetstar grad program gave me the opportunity to do exactly this. I also loved the idea of working for a company that makes travel accessible to more people.
Tell us about your rotations? Any key highlights?
I started with the Cabin Crew Management team in a data
analysis role. This was the perfect team to learn about how an airline operates
– there are so many different teams and activities to coordinate and support
every single flight. From the analysis I was working on, I had reporting
responsibilities to heads of department in support of financial and resourcing
decisions. I also got to do some fun things like participate in the emergency
procedures training for cabin crew.
Group Strategy was my next stop into the more commercial
part of the business. I worked on projects to build comparisons of Jetstar
Branded Airlines against their competitors, investigate competitor and industry
leading booking flows, and compare contracts for different work groups. This
rotation also helped me to understand the structure of the Qantas Group and
Jetstar Group.
Next up, I found a really great team and interesting work in
the Flight Operations Engineering team. They support the Jetstar Australia
fleet (A320/1s and B787s) with the systems, processes and procedures for
managing weight and balance. Much of this work was supporting the operation of
the airline and business initiatives for fuel efficiency, marketing and
ancillary revenue. I also had a project to work on reviewing and refreshing the
manual load charts used by crew when the online system is unavailable. It was
fantastic to put my engineering background to use and work out that I did want
to work as an engineer in aviation.
I wrapped up the program in the Financial Planning and
Analysis team, which was a very varied role. I had several different
responsibilities, including working with the group data teams to develop new
metrics for analysis, monthly P&L reporting and working with the Qantas
Group to produce investor reporting.
For all my rotations, having clear responsibilities plus a
mixture of collaborative and independent project work was really important. It gave
me the best opportunity to learn, grow and understand what I wanted to do post
the program.
How was your development supported as a graduate?
We had many opportunities as a graduate cohort to develop outside our rotations. This included time spent observing the operation at the airport, tours of the engineering hangars, workshops on team work, collaboration and briefings from senior leaders (including the CEO, CFO and COOs), and learning from each other. We also ran a project as a graduate cohort to survey Cabin Baggage across the operation including conducting the physical surveys (across Australia, Singapore and New Zealand), developing the communications to passengers, completing the analysis and reporting back to the business. We had a great network of current graduates, past graduates and mentors (formal and informal) and our rotation managers.
How has your Jetstar career taken off since?
After completing the graduate program, I was very lucky to get a role back with the Flight Operations Engineering team. The work in this team is so varied, which is the main reason I wanted to go back (and ended up staying 6 years). It was incredibly collaborative with many different teams across the business. Some of the key activities I did in this role were the introduction of two new 230Y A321 aircraft, testing and upgrading the software and applications for B787 and A320/1 load control, managing excess baggage for television crews, working with the inflight team on menu and catering changes, working with technical specialists on aircraft modifications, ensuring the load control systems and manuals aligned with any operational changes such as changes in baggage allowances or boarding procedures, and leading the weight and balance work for the reconfiguration of 50+ A320 and A321 aircraft.
I then transitioned into my current engineering role as a Project Manager. I’m responsible for the successful delivery of fleet development and transformation projects. This leverages all the connections and skills I built in the previous role and still has a lot of variety and collaboration across the Qantas Group.
The last two years my work has been to transfer five aircraft from Jetstar Asia to Jetstar Australia, transfer four aircraft from Jetstar Australia to Network Aviation, support entry into service of a new aircraft type (A319s) for Network Aviation and deliver the first aircraft. My team and I have also managed the embodiment of wireless entertainment on half of the Jetstar Australia narrowbody fleet. These projects have involved everything from managing logistics for parts across the globe, meeting regulatory requirements, physical aircraft inspections, reconfiguring emergency equipment, negotiating resource conflicts, managing ad hoc maintenance for fuel and oil leaks, working with internal and external stakeholders and collaboration across three airlines and innumerable departments. A great team and culture makes all of this possible!
Advice for those considering joining the aviation industry or our grad program?
Be prepared for the unexpected. I didn’t know much about airlines or the aviation industry when I started, but there’s so much support and willingness to share information and experience. I learnt quickly that almost anything can happen – from last minute requests for television crews or aircraft parking requirements, changes to your role scope, being put forward for opportunities, planes leaking fuel, to having the whole industry redefining ways of operating during the pandemic.
My advice is to bring your unique combination of skills and attributes to everything you do. Understand how your values align with Jetstar’s - for me, the main ones are collaboration (One team) and problem solving (Consistently can-do).
