Head Of Kq Academy

Purpose

In the context of Kenya Airways' strategic recovery and ambitious growth agenda, the Group seeks a Head of KQ Academy of exceptional capability and strategic vision to serve as the principal architect of the airline's enterprise learning strategy and the Accountable Manager of its Approved Training Organization (ATO). This is a uniquely dual-mandate leadership appointment: the Head of KQ Academy holds accountability for both the development of organizational capability across the entire KQ Group and the regulatory integrity of all aviation training programmes required by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), ICAO standards, and other international civil aviation regulators across KQ's network.

The role reports directly to the Chief People Officer and works in close partnership with the Director of Flight Operations & Inflight Services, Technical Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Line Leadership across all Divisions. The Head of KQ Academy is expected to operate as a strategic adviser to the business on workforce capability, anticipating skills gaps, shaping the learning agenda, driving regulatory compliance, and building a culture of continuous learning that supports KQ's transformation from restructuring into sustained growth and a skilled, competent, agile, and performance-driven workforce.

The role demands a leader who combines deep expertise in learning and organizational development with a thorough understanding of aviation regulatory training requirements, commercial acumen to drive revenue-generating training products, and the personal credibility and influencing capability to operate across a complex, safety-critical, and operationally demanding aviation environment.

Responsibilities

Learning & Organizational Development Strategy

• Formulating and leading the execution of KQ's enterprise learning and organizational development strategy, aligned to the Group's corporate strategy, People & Culture agenda, and long-term business objectives.
• Providing strategic L&D counsel to the Chief People Officer, GMD & CEO, and Executive Committee, contributing to enterprise-wide decisions on workforce capability, organizational transformation, and talent development.
• Developing and maintaining a proactive capability risk framework that identifies, assesses, and mitigates workforce skills gaps before they impact operational performance, safety, or regulatory compliance.
• Leading the design and implementation of the Group's learning culture strategy, leveraging learning analytics, engagement data, and skills assessments to drive evidence-based interventions.
• Establishing enterprise-wide learning frameworks, policies, standards, and governance structures that ensure consistency, quality, and alignment across all business divisions and geographies.
• Conducting organizational training needs assessments and skills gap analyses in collaboration with business functions, translating findings into targeted learning interventions and capability development plans.
• Monitoring the external learning landscape, emerging technologies, aviation industry training trends, and regulatory developments to ensure KQ's learning programmes remain competitive, compliant, and fit for purpose.
• Sponsoring and monitoring learning transformation initiatives, facilitating decision-making with relevant stakeholders and ensuring projects are delivered on time and within agreed parameters.

Regulatory & Technical Training Delivery

• Overseeing the planning, scheduling, delivery, and quality assurance of all regulatory training programmes across the KQ Group, including but not limited to: Flight Crew (initial, recurrent, type rating, and conversion training), Cabin Crew (SEPT, recurrent safety, and service training), Technical/Engineering (aircraft type training, continuation training, and EWIS/HF), Ground Operations (dangerous goods, ramp safety, load control), and Security (AVSEC training as per KCAA and ICAO Annex 17).
• Ensuring the currency and validity of all staff certifications, licenses, and regulatory training records are monitored, maintained, and reported in compliance with KCAA and ICAO requirements.
• Overseeing the development, review, and approval of all training syllabi, courseware, and examination materials to ensure alignment with regulatory requirements, OEM standards, and industry best practice.
• Driving the adoption of Competency-Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) and Evidence-Based Training (EBT) methodologies across relevant training disciplines, in alignment with ICAO and IATA standards, to enhance training effectiveness and regulatory compliance.
• Managing the Flight Operations Officer (FOO) training programme, ensuring compliance with KCAA licensing requirements and operational standards.
• Ensuring training records management meets regulatory audit standards, with robust systems for tracking training completion, expiry dates, and recertification requirements.

Enterprise Learning, Capability Development & Culture

• Strategizing and leading all people development interventions for the organization by building a comprehensive Learning Academy encompassing programmes in coaching, individual development planning, management and leadership development, career pathing, behavioral and technical skills, induction, and virtual-based training.
• Designing and leading structured leadership development programmes across four tiers, emerging leaders, middle management, senior management, and executive leadership, ensuring KQ has a robust pipeline of capable leaders at every level.
• Supporting the development of high-potential employees at senior and mid-career levels, ensuring a robust learning framework with structured learning journeys is in place for employees at all levels, with clear pathways for career progression and leadership pipeline development.
• Partnering with business leaders and the CPO to identify skills and competencies needed to strengthen the organization and prepare it for future success, including succession planning and talent development interventions.
• Leading the development and embedding of core organizational capabilities critical for the company's success, including coaching and mentoring programmes, and embedding a culture of continuous learning and growth mindset across the organization.
• Ensuring implementation and tracking of functional capability frameworks to map ROI for all learning interventions across functional areas, including functional learning academies and learning tracks for specific functions and roles.
• Driving culture-building learning interventions and playing a critical role in strengthening people capabilities and organizational culture aligned to KQ's values and strategic ambitions.
• Leading the transformation of learning and development through blended learning methodologies and technology-based learning, including gamification, micro-learning, virtual reality (VR) simulation, and AI-powered adaptive learning.

Commercial Training & Revenue Generation

• Leading and being accountable for the revenue-generating training product offerings of the KQ Academy, specifically as an Approved Training Organization (ATO), designing and developing commercial training programmes for external clients in the aviation industry and adjacent sectors.
• Developing and executing a commercial strategy for the KQ Academy, identifying market opportunities, pricing strategies, and partnership models to maximize training revenue while maintaining regulatory standards and brand integrity.
• Building and maintaining relationships with external aviation clients, partner airlines, regulatory bodies, and industry organizations to grow the Academy's commercial footprint across Africa and beyond.
• Designing innovative alternative streams of revenue for the ATO and the Learning Academy, including bespoke corporate training, consultancy services, and certification programmes.
• Ensuring all commercial training activities comply with ATO regulatory requirements and do not compromise the quality or integrity of KQ's internal training programmes.

Learning Effectiveness & Return on Investment

• Establishing and maintaining a robust learning evaluation framework to measure the effectiveness and business impact of all training and development interventions, using recognized models (e.g., Kirkpatrick, Phillips ROI Methodology) to assess reaction, learning, behavior change, and organizational results.
• Monitoring the application of acquired knowledge and skills in the workplace, working closely with line managers and HRBPs to track behavior change, performance improvement, and the transfer of learning to on-the-job performance.
• Developing and presenting regular learning effectiveness dashboards and ROI reports to the Chief People Officer and Executive Committee, translating evaluation data into actionable insights and recommendations for learning investment decisions.
• Benchmarking learning ROI against industry standards and KQ's strategic capability priorities, ensuring learning investments are aligned to business outcomes and delivering measurable value to the organization.
• Collaborating with business units to define pre- and post-training performance metrics and capability baselines, enabling rigorous measurement of training impact on operational performance, safety outcomes, and regulatory compliance.

Learning Technology, Analytics & Digital Transformation

• Managing and ensuring the continuous improvement of the Learning Management System (LMS), including organizing new content, ensuring diverse learning channels, and maintaining accuracy and currency of all published content.
• Leveraging learning analytics and HR information systems to track, analyze, and report on key training metrics including training completion rates, regulatory compliance status, certification currency, skills gap analysis, learning ROI, and employee development progress.
• Developing and presenting regular learning dashboards and insights to the Chief People Officer and Executive Committee, translating data into actionable recommendations.
• Driving the digitization of training processes, including online learning journeys, digital academies, e-assessment, and training records management to improve efficiency, consistency, and audit readiness.
• Benchmarking KQ's learning practices against industry peers, aviation sector standards (IATA Training Standards, ICAO competency frameworks), and global best practice, and making recommendations for continuous improvement.
• Serving as the subject matter expert on learning innovation, training systems and tools, industry trends, and emerging technologies, providing direction on new and effective ways to deliver learning content and experiences.

Stakeholder Management & External Relations

• Building and maintaining productive relationships with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), EASA, IATA, ICAO, OEMs (Boeing, Embraer), SkyTeam alliance training partners, and other relevant external bodies.
• Managing KQ's representation in all ATO regulatory audits, surveillance visits, and compliance reviews, working in partnership with the Quality Manager, ATO and regulatory affairs teams.
• Advising on emerging regulatory changes, training technology developments, and their potential impact on KQ's training operations and workforce capability strategy.
• Representing KQ at industry forums, aviation training conferences, IATA training committees, and external engagements on learning, development, and aviation training matters.
• Managing the selection, performance, and oversight of external training providers, consultants, and subject matter experts to ensure quality, value for money, and alignment with KQ's learning standards.
• Developing and maintaining an internal trainer and facilitator network, providing train-the-trainer programmes and quality assurance frameworks to build internal training capability across the organization.
• Building and sustaining trust-based relationships with employees at all levels, ensuring the KQ Academy is seen as a center of excellence, accessible, and genuinely committed to employee development and career growth.

People & Leadership

• Building and leading a high-performing KQ Academy team capable of supporting the Group's recovery and growth strategy across Organizational Learning & Development, Regulatory Training, Research & Curriculum Development, Academy Administration, and ATO Quality.
• Ensuring all Academy team members are competent in their roles, providing coaching, mentoring, and development support to enhance individual and team capability and build succession depth within the function.
• Developing the people strategy for the KQ Academy in liaison with the Chief People Officer, including talent acquisition, performance management, and succession planning for senior Academy roles, including Chief Ground Instructors and senior regulatory training positions.
• Fostering a culture of safety, integrity, continuous learning, accountability, and professional excellence within the Academy and across the broader People & Culture division.
• As a member of the People & Culture leadership team, providing leadership in all learning and development activities of the Group, setting the standard for training quality, regulatory compliance, and workforce capability across the organization.
• Overall management of the company training budgets for regulatory and non-regulatory training and all learning and development initiatives, ensuring fiscal discipline and optimal resource allocation.

Skills

• An experienced, capable, and visionary learning and development leader with significant experience in a complex, regulated, and preferably aviation or transport environment of comparable size, scale, and regulatory complexity.
• A trusted strategic adviser to the Chief People Officer with credibility, presence, and intellectual rigor to influence senior levels of the organization on workforce capability and learning investment decisions.
• Deep expertise in enterprise learning strategy, organizational development, and capability building, combined with a thorough understanding of aviation regulatory training requirements (KCAA, ICAO, EASA).
• Proven experience as an Accountable Manager or senior leader within an Approved Training Organization (ATO), with a demonstrable track record of maintaining regulatory compliance and passing regulatory audits.
• Strong commercial acumen with a proven track record of developing and growing revenue-generating training products and services in the aviation industry.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to leverage learning data, training metrics, and capability assessments to drive evidence-based decision-making and present compelling insights to ExCo.
• A leader of high integrity with an unblemished professional track record and the personal credibility to manage the dual demands of regulatory compliance and organizational development with rigor, fairness, and sound judgement.
• Genuine commitment to employee development, diversity, equity and inclusion, and the creation of a learning culture that supports a high-performance, safety-conscious workplace.
• A collegiate team player who fosters collaboration across the People & Culture division and builds strong trust-based partnerships with business leaders, regulatory authorities, OEMs, and external training partners.
• An understanding of and familiarity with the East African aviation regulatory environment, combined with an international perspective and cultural agility to operate across KQ's diverse network.

Qualifications

Academic & Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, Management, Human Resources, Education, Aviation Management, Organizational Psychology, or a related discipline (mandatory).
• Master's degree in human resources, Organizational Development, Education, Business Administration (MBA), or a related field from a recognized institution (an added advantage).
• Professional HR certification: CHRP (K) from IHRM Kenya, CIPD Level 7, SHRM-SCP, or equivalent international qualification (an added advantage).
• Advanced certifications in Training & Development, Instructional Design, Competency-Based Training, or Organizational Psychology (e.g., ATD CPTD, ISTD, or equivalent) (distinct advantage).
• Aviation-specific training qualifications or certifications (e.g., IATA Training Diploma, ICAO TRAINAIR PLUS certification, or equivalent ATO management qualification) (distinct advantage).
• Professional certification in instructional design or competency-based training frameworks (e.g., CBTA certification, ATD Master Instructional Designer) (distinct advantage).
• Membership of the Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM Kenya) or equivalent professional body in good standing (an added advantage).

Experience

• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in Learning & Development, Organizational Development, or Training Management, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role overseeing an enterprise learning function.
• Proven experience as an Accountable Manager or senior leader within an Approved Training Organization (ATO) or equivalent regulated training environment, with a demonstrable track record of regulatory compliance (distinct advantage).
• Deep expertise in aviation regulatory training requirements, including familiarity with KCAA regulations, ICAO Annexes (particularly Annex 1 - Personnel Licensing), ICAO Doc 9841 (Manual on the Approval of Training Organizations), and CBTA/EBT frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience building and managing comprehensive learning academies, multi-tiered leadership development programmes, and capability frameworks in a large, complex organization.
• Proven track record of developing and growing revenue-generating training products and services, preferably in the aviation or regulated industry sector.
• Experience managing training budgets, commercial P&L, and demonstrating ROI on learning investments using recognized evaluation frameworks.
• Strong learning analytics capability with experience leveraging LMS platforms, HRIS, and data to drive learning strategy and operational improvement.
• Sound understanding of Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Quality Management Systems (QMS) as applied to aviation training environments.
• Excellent cross-cultural people management skills, with the ability to operate effectively across KQ's diverse, multi-country workforce.
• Strong networking and interpersonal skills with proven ability to build trust at the most senior levels, including Boards, regulatory authorities, OEMs, and industry partners.
• Experience in the aviation, transport, logistics, or broader regulated, safety-critical sector is a distinct advantage.

Additional Information

• Learning & OD Strategy - A proven architect of enterprise-wide learning and organizational development strategies that have delivered measurable business outcomes. The candidate must demonstrate the ability to translate corporate strategy into a coherent learning agenda and execute with pace, rigor, and commercial discipline.
• ATO Regulatory Leadership - Demonstrated experience leading or managing an Approved Training Organization (ATO) or equivalent regulated training function, with a proven track record of maintaining regulatory compliance with civil aviation authorities. The candidate must understand the Accountable Manager's obligations under ICAO Doc 9841 and applicable national regulations.
• Regulatory & Technical Training - Deep technical understanding of aviation regulatory training requirements across flight crew, cabin crew, engineering, ground operations, and security disciplines, including expertise in CBTA and EBT methodologies. The candidate must ensure training programmes meet KCAA, ICAO, and OEM standards at all times.
• Enterprise Learning & Capability Building - A track record of building and leading comprehensive learning academies, multi-tiered leadership development programmes, and capability frameworks that have measurably strengthened organizational performance and culture.
• Commercial Training & Revenue Generation - Proven ability to develop and grow revenue-generating training products and services, with experience in business development, client relationship management, and commercial strategy within the aviation training market.
• Learning Technology & Digital Transformation - Strong capability in leveraging LMS platforms, learning analytics, digital tools, and emerging technologies (VR, AI, adaptive learning) to drive training innovation, efficiency, and learner engagement.
• Learning Effectiveness & ROI - Demonstrated experience establishing learning evaluation frameworks and measuring training impact and ROI, with the ability to translate evaluation data into evidence-based recommendations for the CPO and ExCo.
• Stakeholder Management & External Relations - Capable of building and sustaining trust-based relationships with regulatory authorities (KCAA, EASA), OEMs, IATA, SkyTeam partners, and external training clients, as well as ExCo and other internal stakeholders.
• Safety Management & Quality Assurance - Experience implementing and maintaining Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Quality Management Systems (QMS) within a training environment, ensuring continuous compliance and audit readiness.
• People Leadership & Capability Development - A strong focus on people development, coaching, mentoring, and developing the next generation of learning professionals and regulatory training specialists. Appraising and counselling team members on performance-related matters to ensure productivity, retention, and succession readiness within the Academy function.