Mgr Technology - Platform & AI Accelerators

Department:

Technology

Our Company Promise

We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.

Job Description:

At Southwest Airlines, we believe that flying should feel like freedom. For over 50 years, we’ve been connecting people to what matters most with low fares, legendary hospitality, and a heart for service. Our culture is built on the principles of fun , friendliness , and family , making us one of the most admired workplaces in the world.

If you’re passionate about making a difference, love working in a fast-paced environment, and want to help millions of travelers reach their destinations with a smile, Southwest Airlines is the place for you. Here, your career can truly take flight .

The Platform & AI Accelerators Pod drives Southwest's next-generation cloud platform transformation — migrating from CloudFormation-based CCP to Terraform-based CCPNext, scaling Backstage Golden Paths, and delivering AI-driven platform accelerators. The team enables faster developer onboarding, consistent enterprise standards, and higher engineering productivity through reusable modules, automation, and AI-enabled tooling adopted across the organization.

As Manager Technology – Platform & AI Accelerators, you'll lead a team driving enterprise-wide platform transformation — from CCPNext migration to Backstage Golden Paths to AI-driven accelerators adopted across Southwest engineering. You'll scale platform enablement across a global engineering ecosystem from our Hyderabad office, driving adoption, consistency, and delivery velocity.

Provide a People focused approach to Technology Leadership. Apply department/enterprise business knowledge to ensure value alignment. Accountable for the delivery and support of solutions and services that are technically and functionally solid, well integrated, comply with technical strategy, and meet or exceed Customer requirements.

Model the Southwest Way 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

Responsibilities Lead, support, and influence the achievement of the mission, goals and objectives of the department and organization

Participate fully in organizational processes and initiatives, i.e. performance management, interviewing, budgeting, training, etc.

Lead the resolution of organization, team and individual issues, making appropriate decision

Develop and execute strategies and processes to improve performance and the value of products and services provided

Lead cross-functional Teams to deliver solutions and services to meet enterprise needs

Provide Technical thought Leadership related to assigned functional areas

Deliver technology solutions using best practices to achieve maximum Team productivity while delivering high quality products

Stay abreast of emerging trends, processes, and solutions related to assigned responsibilities

Build strong, collaborative relationships and credibility while influencing and driving change across respective Business and Technology Teams

Work with Technology and business partners to measure financial benefits and demonstrable business value

May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Knowledge of business/Leadership principals, including planning, organizing, directing, developing, and supervising

Knowledge of personnel practices and regulations

Knowledge of software development practices, concepts, methodologies, tools and trends

Proficient knowledge of project management methodologies

Skilled in excellent partnering, negotiation and communication in order to facilitate interactions with business Customers and technology teams

Ability to provide tactical leadership for Team(s)

Ability to use appropriate motivation and influence techniques to achieve desired Team results

Ability to set and manage stakeholder expectations

Ability to deliver quality projects on time and within budget

Ability to manage projects using the organization's project management methodology

Preferred: Enterprise-wide platform adoption, migration, or modernization initiatives

Terraform and cloud platform depth for enterprise-scale IaC

Backstage or developer portal experience for Golden Paths and platform accelerators

AI-enabled platform acceleration and developer productivity tooling

DevOps/CI-CD understanding across pipelines, automation, and developer workflows

Program execution across complex, multi-team, multi-stakeholder initiatives

Change management (ServiceNow) and enterprise adoption strategy

Cross-continental team leadership across a globally distributed engineering model

Education Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information systems or similar fields of study or equivalent advanced level experience

Experience Demonstrated experience in directly or indirectly leading team(s)

Fully functioning, broad knowledge in: Business and/or Information Technology environment

Leading teams and providing work direction

8-12 years relevant work-related / leadership experience

Preferred: Leading enterprise IaC migrations (CloudFormation → Terraform or comparable)

Driving enterprise-wide platform adoption through Golden Paths, portals, or accelerators

Delivering AI-enabled platform capabilities used across many engineering teams

Aligning engineering, product, and leadership to drive adoption at scale

Hiring, mentoring, and growing engineers and tech leads for platform work

Building team culture around ownership and platform-as-a-product mindset

Managing engineering teams across multiple time zones

Airline, travel, or large enterprise IT experience

Other Qualifications Must meet confidentiality expectations as to confidential, proprietary and sensitive Company information

Ability to work extended hours as needed

Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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