Airport Control Shift Lead

The Airport Control Shift Lead leads and coordinates Heathrow’s Airport Control operations in APOC, ensuring all day response to a wide range of incidents and enquiries across the airport. They are subject matter experts in SOPs, guiding the team during incidents, maintaining standards, and overseeing complex or high-impact situations while liaising with key stakeholders. They also manage team performance, act as a key escalation point, and serve as a link between operational teams and senior airport leadership.

Shift Pattern: 12 hour shifts, both early and late - 4 on 4 off pattern. Please note this role requires CTC clearance which requires UK residency for the past 3 years.

• Lead and coordinate day-to-day Airport Control operations, acting as the primary link with AOM, ACM/ACOM, and wider stakeholders, while maintaining situational awareness during incidents. 
• Line manage and support the team (OLCs/OCs), overseeing wellbeing, performance, training, and ensuring adequate shift coverage and effective time management. 
• Oversee incident management, ensuring SOPs are followed, accurate records are logged, and appropriate responses/resources are deployed for alarms, emergencies, and enquiries. 
• Monitor systems, faults, and incident trackers (e.g. DORIS), ensuring timely resolution, escalation of critical issues, and operational readiness at all times. 
• Act as the key escalation point and liaison during incidents, coordinating communication between operational teams, senior management, and external partners. 
• Drive operational excellence through continuous improvement, consistent standards, stakeholder service, and effective handovers, briefings, and team coordination.

• Ability to remain calm and perform effectively under pressure in a complex, fast-paced environment.

• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks and competing demands effectively.

• Effective communication and influencing skills across all levels, including internal teams, external partners and control authorities.

• Ability to demonstrate sound judgement and decision-making when handling sensitive incidents or challenging situations.

• Handles confidential and sensitive information with discretion, professionalism and integrity.

• Able to build strong working relationships, challenge constructively where appropriate, and ensure compliance with established procedures and standards.

Ideally:

• Experience in Airport Operations, ideally with at least 12 months in a multi-stakeholder operational environment.
• Familiarity with Heathrow’s terminal and airfield geography.
• Ability to identify and implement operational improvements and new ways of working.

It takes a special kind of team work to keep the world’s most iconic airport running smoothly.  Over 65,000 people across hundreds of companies work at Heathrow and together they are Team Heathrow. The airport team includes colleagues from airlines, baggage handlers, control authorities, retailers, passenger services, emergency services, transport providers, security, engineering, airfield operations and more. 

Our team are responsible for managing relationships with our partners, and coordinating day-to-day operational activities, including the Airport Operating Centre (APOC) operational plan. 

Our purpose is to make every journey better and we work closely with our Team Heathrow Partners to achieve it. We do this by building trusted relationships with our partners, working to understand our shared goals and continually driving up standards across safety, operational and resilience performance.  This demands close collaboration and communications, clear governance, working to quickly identify and to resolve shared issues that proactively deliver improvement across Heathrow and for our passengers.  

It’s an inspiring, exciting place to work, with unlimited opportunities to make a difference.  Be part of this city within a city and you’ll find a team that feels like family, and a place where you belong. 

There’s something so special about working at the world’s most iconic airport. Its sights. Its sounds. Its constant air of excitement. Heathrow is an amazing backdrop to a career filled with unique opportunities.  

Every day, you’ll discover a world full of fresh possibilities and come home buzzing with stories to tell, as you encounter people from all cultures, nationalities and experiences. A world full of pride for what we do and no end of exciting career prospects to explore.  

It brings out the best in all of us. And inspires everyone to deliver on our ambitious plans. Together, we’re working to welcome millions more passengers while ensuring aviation can continue to be a force for good by leading global efforts in sustainability. 

Join us on that journey and we'll help you achieve your ambitions too. Supporting you to learn, encouraging you to be yourself, backing you to achieve more than you might ever have imagined. Because there’s no place like Heathrow.  

Our rewards 

We offer competitive salaries and excellent benefits that will support you now and in the future. As well as performance-based annual bonuses and our longer-term Share in Success Bonus plans, we also offer generous annual leave allowances and market-leading pensions. With family friendly policies, access to private health insurance and a wide range of wellbeing tools, we’ll support you to be at your best inside and outside work. And of course, we’ll provide varied learning and development opportunities too. Here you’ll find everything you need for a fulfilling career journey that can take you in exciting directions.

Working location

This is an airport-based position. Every day, you will play a critical role in helping us to give our passengers the best airport service in the world.
 
Sustainable Travel to work

Heathrow’s Sustainable Travel Guide sets out easy and sustainable travel options that everyone can access.
 
Equal Opportunities

As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all. We believe that diverse talent makes us stronger – not least because we welcome passengers from all corners of the globe, every single day. Heathrow is an accessible place to work, and through our diversity networks, we champion inclusivity and celebrate individuality.