JOB PURPOSE

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Corporate ERP Governance & Strategic Leadership

• Architect, develop, maintain, and continuously refine the Gulf Air Corporate Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and all associated operational checklists, ensuring seamless integration across Flight Operations, Cabin Operations, Technical, Ground Operations, Security, Commercial, Corporate Communications, Human Resources, Legal, IT, Finance, and Medical Services.

• Exercise delegated authority from the Accountable Manager / Emergency Director to manage corporate crisis readiness, activate ERP protocols, and chair the ERP Governance Committee.

• Establish a formal ERP governance framework, including documented policies, procedures, escalation matrices, activation/de-escalation criteria, and a systematic return-to-normal transition process for incidents involving fatalities, serious injuries, or considerable aircraft damage.

• Conduct periodic audits, readiness reviews, and gap assessments of the ERP and EOC, reporting status and recommendations to the Senior Manager Safety, Safety Review Board (SRB), and Emergency Director / Accountable Manager.

Outstation & Network Emergency Response Management

• Establish, standardize, and maintain localised Emergency Response Plans (Local ERPs) for all airports across Gulf Air’s network.

• Define station-level activation triggers, response procedures, and command structures; nominate and train Station ERP Leads.

• Ensure each station maintains a designated airline representative within the local Airport Emergency Operations Centre (AEOC / Airport EOC).

• Align all outstation plans with local Aerodrome Emergency Plans (AEPs), Ground Handling Service Provider (GHA) emergency procedures, and host-nation regulatory requirements.

• Conduct regular outstation audits, readiness inspections, and remote/onsite verification of ERP capability, resources, and go-kits, driving a consistent standard of excellence across the network.

Humanitarian Response & Family Assistance Leadership

• Oversee the readiness, training, and deployment framework for Family Assistance Teams (FAT), and Humanitarian Response Teams.

• Establish protocols for the rapid stand-up of a Family Assistance Centre (FAC) at affected locations, including reception, privacy, medical, psychological, religious, and interpreter support.

• Operate and maintain a multi-channel Emergency Contact Centre (ECC) with secure remote-access capability, staffed and trained to handle inquiries from families, media, government agencies, and internal stakeholders with empathy, accuracy, and cultural sensitivity.

• Drive the experience for those affected by crisis by ensuring every family, passenger, and crew member receives dignified, compassionate, and seamless humanitarian support, from first contact through long-term aftercare.

• Manage processes for personal effects tracking, tracing, storage, and repatriation with dignity, chain-of-custody integrity, and data protection compliance.

• Coordinate with state authorities, embassies, medical examiners, funeral directors, and faith representatives for the repatriation of remains.

• Ensure long-term care, information continuity, and compassionate support for affected families in accordance with ICAO Policy on Assistance to Aircraft Accident Victims and Their Families.

External Partner, Alliance & Vendor Integration

• Establish formal crisis coordination workflows with all external stakeholders, including Ground Handling Service Providers (GHAs), airport authorities, emergency services vendors, civil aviation authorities, Search and Rescue (SAR) agencies, Accident Investigation Authorities, and government crisis bodies.

• Define emergency protocols with codeshare, alliance, and wet-lease partners, including operating lead determination, shared contact directories, communication channels, and operational handoff procedures.

• Maintain a current external stakeholder contact directory and crisis communication tree, validated at least annually.

• Conduct regular non-crisis engagement, memoranda of understanding, and joint exercises with third-party humanitarian vendors, call-center providers, and emergency service partners to verify readiness and interoperability.

• Build trusted, collaborative relationships that reflect Gulf Air’s commitment to excellence and ethics in every partnership.

Regulatory Compliance & Data Governance

• Ensure Gulf Air’s ERP and family assistance protocols comply with Bahrain CAA, ICAO, IATA, and global family assistance legislation across all operational and overflight jurisdictions.

• Establish automated systems and procedures for the rapid retrieval of Souls on Board (SOB) data, including infants, persons with reduced mobility (PRMs), and other vulnerable passengers, as well as Dangerous Goods (DG) details for SAR agencies.

• Establish procedures for the accurate, timely, secure, and legally compliant transmission of passenger and crew manifests to authorized authorities upon request.

• Implement robust data privacy and information security controls to safeguard victim, family, and crew personal data during a crisis, acting with ethics and integrity in every handling of sensitive information.

• Monitor changes in global family assistance, aviation safety, and data privacy legislation, ensuring the ERP is updated proactively.

Responder Care & Employee Psychological Support

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and Peer Support framework specifically for crisis responders.

• Lead with excellence by ensuring the ERP is optimized into lean, scannable, role-specific digital action checklists, accessible via mobile and web platforms, enabling rapid, disciplined execution under pressure.

• Own the corporate Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) / Crisis Management Centre (CMC), ensuring 24/7 technical readiness, call-out automation, redundant communication systems, crisis management software, and secure remote-access capabilities.

• Ensure psychological first aid, structured debriefing, and long-term formal counselling are systematically available to all responding and indirectly affected personnel, including first call-takers, EOC/CMC staff, station leads, FAT/HAT members, family assistance caregivers, and non-directly affected employees.

• Drive an exceptional internal experience by fostering a culture of psychological safety, resilience, and sustainable crisis-response performance across the organization.

Training, Exercises, Debriefing & Closed-Loop Quality Assurance

• Design, implement, and manage a formal ERP training syllabus and recurrent training schedule for the CMT, EOC/CMC staff, station ERP leads, FAT/HAT, communications teams, and other nominated responders.

• Plan, direct, and evaluate a multi-year exercise programme, including tabletop drills, functional exercises, and full-scale multi-agency simulations across headquarters and outstations.

• Ensure Station ERP leads receive training at least every two calendar years and participate in exercises at least once per calendar year.

• Lead mandatory post-exercise and post-event debriefing/critique sessions, producing structured reports with actionable findings.

• Drive a closed-loop assurance process: ensure all findings, gaps, and vulnerabilities feed directly into Gulf Air’s Safety Risk Management (SRM) workflow, generating trackable corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs), updating the corporate risk register, and informing management review.

• Lead with excellence by treating every drill, exercise, and real event as an opportunity for continuous improvement, learning, and capability uplift.

Crisis command structure & activation responsibilities

During normal operations, the MERP reports to the Senior Manager Safety. Upon activation of the Corporate ERP:

• Emergency Director: The Chief Operating Officer / Accountable Manager assumes overall command as the Emergency Director.

• Crisis Management Team (CMT): The CMT is convened under the Emergency Director to direct the strategic, operational, commercial, legal, communications, and humanitarian response.

• MERP Role: The MERP serves as the principal ERP advisor and coordinator to the CMT and Emergency Director, ensuring disciplined ERP execution, activation of the EOC/CMC and ECC, and coordination of all ERP functions.

• Senior Manager Safety Role: The Senior Manager Safety provides independent safety advice to the CMT and supports safety/data preservation but does not assume the live Crisis Lead or Humanitarian Response Lead role, preserving SMS independence and accident investigation integrity.

The MERP shall:

• Serve as the primary ERP advisor to the Crisis Management Team (CMT) and Emergency Director, providing expert guidance on ERP activation level, response strategy, regulatory notifications, and humanitarian priorities.

• Activate the HQ Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) / Crisis Management Centre (CMC) and Emergency Call Centre (ECC), ensuring an orderly, rapid, and controlled transition from normal to emergency operations.

• Initiate and coordinate notification to regulatory authorities, airport partners, GSPs, codeshare/alliance partners, and emergency service vendors.

• Maintain strict 24/7 on-call readiness, with immediate mobilization capability and availability for sustained duty periods until the crisis is stabilized, formally de-escalated, regular domestic, and international travel to outstations for audits, exercises, and inspections

• Ensure accurate, compassionate, and coordinated family assistance, media, and stakeholder communications are executed through the designated functions.

• Act with ethics under extreme pressure, ensuring decisions are transparent, principled, and aligned with Gulf Air’s values, even in the most demanding circumstances

EDUCATION / QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Management, Emergency / Disaster / Crisis Management, Safety Management, Business Administration, or an equivalent major in the related filed.

• Specialised certification/training in Airline Emergency Response Planning, Crisis Command, Family Assistance Management, Disaster Management, Crisis Communications, and/or Train-the-Trainer methodologies from recognised bodies such as IATA, ICAO, FSF, ISASI, or equivalent.

• Formal training in IOSA, ICAO Annex 19, ICAO Annex 13, and global family assistance regulations is highly desirable.

EXPERIENCE

• Minimum 6 years of progressive experience within the airline or aviation industry, with substantial exposure to commercial, operational, and safety-critical functions.

• Minimum 3 years of dedicated experience in emergency response planning, crisis management, or disaster management within an IATA-member airline or equivalent aviation organisation.

• Proven track record in designing, implementing, auditing, and exercising corporate ERPs, mass-event response plans, or government-level crisis management frameworks.

• Demonstrated experience in full-scale emergency simulation exercises, multi-agency coordination, and post-event critique and learning.

• Minimum 3 years in a managerial or leadership position with demonstrable accountability for enterprise-level programmes