Product Manager – Horizon; Disruption Prediction

At easyJet, we are on a mission to transform our integrated Planning and Operations into a world class digitally optimised operation, through the use of new and emerging technologies.

Most of what disrupts an airline day is visible before it bites. A convective forecast, a tightening flow rate, a turn that is already running late, an aircraft showing a fault signature, a crew edging towards their hours — each is knowable in advance. Today we largely find out when the plan breaks, and by then the only options left are the expensive ones\: cancel, delay further, or spend heavily to recover. Recovery is always cheaper the earlier you can see the need for it.

Horizon exists to change that. It anticipates disruption before it lands, simulates how it would play out, sizes what it would cost, and shows where today’s plan is fragile — turning an operation that reacts well into one that sees what is coming.

We are looking for a Product Manager to take accountability for Horizon, working alongside the Senior Product Manager, fellow Product Managers and the business teams who rely on these products every day.

Product and its ways of working is new to easyJet, and we are looking for people who are able to help us mature our capability as we journey through the skies together!

This role sits at the intersect between the business, technology teams and our customers, and will really make the difference. The team is highly specialised in emerging technologies and importantly understands how planning, operational and commercial decisions connect in a rapidly changing landscape.

Job Purpose

As Product Manager – Horizon, you will own the strategy, development and delivery of the product that tells easyJet what is about to go wrong, how much it will cost (fusion) and what the plan looks like if nothing changes — directly shaping decisions that affect millions of passengers and frontline staff across Europe.

Horizon works across the things that actually break an airline day\: weather in all its forms, ATFM flow rate restrictions and slot pressure, turnaround challenges and ground constraints, curfew and night restriction exposure, crew flight time limitations and duty hours, and aircraft technical risk including predictive maintenance indicators and AOG. Individually, each of these is a known problem with people already watching it. The product challenge is seeing them together, seeing them early, and expressing their consequence against the plan we are actually flying — because it is the combinations, not the single events, that turn a manageable morning into a lost day.

The central tension in this product is lead time against confidence. A warning four hours out is worth far more than certainty thirty minutes out, but only if it is right often enough to be acted on. You will own that trade-off explicitly\: what threshold justifies raising a risk, how uncertainty is expressed, how many false alarms the product can afford before users stop looking, and how it earns the right to interrupt someone mid-shift. Managing attention will be as much of your job as improving accuracy.

Horizon anticipates and sizes; it does not decide. You will own the prediction, the simulation and the impact assessment — the recovery decision and its execution sit with the operation and with other products in the group. Impacts should be sized in the group’s common cost currency (Fusion) and Launchpad where one applies, and surfaced to users inside the operational products they already work in, rather than becoming one more screen to watch.

Working closely with the Senior Product Manager and the Head of Technology, you will take full accountability for your product across its whole lifecycle — setting the vision, defining the roadmap and leading the cross-functional team that delivers it. That team, made up of engineers, analysts, Data Scientists and delivery partners, will rely on your leadership to ensure every product decision is grounded in customer insight, operational efficiency and commercial value. You will also contribute to the strategy of the wider product group, making sure your product earns its place within it.

This is a model-led product, which makes the role unusual. Much of its value rests on forecasting, simulation and machine learning you will not build yourself, so you will need the confidence to hold Data Science and delivery partners to account on accuracy, lead time, false positive rates and drift — and the discipline to be honest with users, and with senior stakeholders, about what the product does not yet know.

This role is ideal for a hands-on product thinker who thrives in a high-volume, high-impact environment and can balance a compelling product vision with day-to-day execution.

Product Scope

You will own anticipation, simulation and impact sizing — not the plan, the systems that hold it, or the recovery decision, but the earliest credible view of what threatens it.

Anticipation & Detection

Continuous assessment of the live and forward plan against the conditions it depends on, raising threats while there is still time to act.

Coverage of the drivers that matter most\: convective and winter weather, wind, low visibility and de-icing; ATFM regulations, flow restrictions and slot pressure; turnaround, ground handling and airport resource constraints; curfew and night restrictions; crew FTL, duty limits and standby depletion; and aircraft technical risk, predictive maintenance indicators and AOG likelihood.

Detection of compound risk — a late inbound into a tight turn at a curfew-constrained airport with a crew already close to their limit.

Prioritisation and suppression, so users see only what genuinely warrants attention.

Escalating clarity as an event approaches, so an early risk is refined rather than repeated.

Impact Sizing

Quantification of consequence, not just likelihood\: which flights, aircraft, crews, passengers and connections are exposed, and how far the effect propagates downline and across the network.

Impact in operational and commercial terms — delay minutes, OTP, cancellations, misconnections, curfew breach, crew illegality, compensation and care, and downstream aircraft and crew availability — and in the group’s common cost basis where one applies.

Confidence, ranges and time-to-impact alongside every figure, so users can judge how firm a number is and how long they have to use it.

A clear do-nothing case, the baseline every recovery option is judged against.

Simulation & Scenario Analysis

Scenario and what-if capability, letting users test how an event, or a proposed response to it, would play out across the plan.

Stress testing ahead of the day — finding where the schedule, aircraft rotations and crew plan have no slack, so fragility is designed out in the pre-tactical window rather than absorbed on the day.

Performance fit for each horizon\: fast enough for a live decision on the day, rich enough for pre-tactical and planning analysis.

Replay and back-testing against days that actually happened, so the simulation is demonstrably credible rather than merely plausible.

Signals, Data & Models

Sourcing, quality and timeliness of the signals the product depends on\: meteorological services, network manager and ATFM data, airport and ground handling data, aircraft health and maintenance telemetry, crew and rostering systems, and the plan itself.

Ownership of the models in genuine partnership with Data Science — what they predict, their features and assumptions, their retraining cycles, and their known limitations.

A clear build, buy and partner position across forecasting, simulation and optimisation, protecting explainability and avoiding lock-in.

Graceful degradation — defined behaviour when a signal is late, missing or wrong, so a stale picture is never presented as a live one.

Performance, Trust & Explainability

Published accuracy, measured continuously and visibly\: hit rate, false positives and negatives, lead time actually achieved, and whether stated confidence is calibrated.

Explainability by default — every prediction traceable to its signals and reasoning, so the person accountable for the decision can interrogate, challenge and override it.

Alert fatigue treated as a first-order product risk, with measurement of what users act on, ignore and switch off.

Drift monitoring, retraining triggers and honesty about novel conditions the models have not seen.

Adoption, Trust & Value

Measurement of what actually changes\: how much earlier decisions are taken, how many events arrive unforeseen, and how much reactive recovery is avoided.

Demonstrable links to OTP, disruption cost, cancellations, curfew breaches, crew illegality events, AOG impact and customer experience.

Trust as a product requirement — earned the first time a prediction proves right at the moment it mattered, and lost quickly by crying wolf.

JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES

Product Strategy & Vision

Define and own the vision, strategy and roadmap for one to three products, from idea to value.

Ensure alignment with the strategy of the wider product group, organisational goals, user needs, and evolving market and operational dynamics.

Build the value case for your products and manage the resource and funding allocated to them, contributing to the wider product group budget owned by the Senior Product Manager.

Where a product is delivered on a third-party or COTS application, set a clear position on build, buy, configure and extend, and keep that position under review as the vendor’s roadmap and the market move.

Stakeholder Management

Build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders across the business and with external partners and suppliers.

Act as the recognised expert and single point of contact for your products, translating priorities into actionable initiatives and negotiating trade-offs where necessary, escalating decisions that span the wider group.

Product Planning & Execution

Own the end-to-end lifecycle of your products, from idea and discovery through delivery, adoption and optimisation.

Translate business challenges into clear, prioritised product backlogs and ensure timely, high-quality delivery.

Define and track success metrics (OKRS and KPIS), ensuring your products deliver tangible business outcomes. Use data and insights to inform decisions, iterate on solutions, and continuously improve product performance.

Product, Service & Vendor Management

Own the ongoing service performance of your products, working with Technology, suppliers and support partners to ensure the availability, reliability and support a 24/7 operation demands — agreeing and monitoring the service levels that matter to users, acting as the product-side escalation point for major incidents, and ensuring change is introduced safely with testing, training, documentation and operational readiness in place.

Manage the commercial and delivery relationship with your software vendors and implementation partners in line with easyJet’s procurement and supplier management frameworks, owning or contributing to contracts, licensing and subscriptions, tracking consumption and cost, running regular service and roadmap reviews, and making and defending clear configure, extend or replace decisions.

Represent easyJet externally in user groups, customer advisory boards and product forums to influence vendor roadmaps, maintain an evidence-based view of the vendor and wider market landscape, and build relationships with peer airlines to share practice and strengthen easyJet’s position in roadmap and commercial discussions.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Provide day-to-day leadership to a multidisciplinary squad, ensuring alignment across business SMEs, Technology, Data, Analytics, and external partners.

Contribute to a high-performing, collaborative team culture focused on delivering measurable value, and share practice openly with fellow Product Managers across the group.

Governance & Compliance

Ensure your product development adheres to legal, regulatory and operational standards.

Apply best practice in product governance, risk management, and ethical technology use.

Ensure third-party applications meet easyJet’s security, data protection and third-party risk requirements, and that appropriate continuity, data portability and exit arrangements are in place.

Communication & Reporting

Act as the focal point for communication on your products, providing regular updates to the Senior Product Manager, Head of Technology and wider stakeholders on progress, risks and value realisation.

Ensure transparency and alignment with stakeholders at every level.

COMPETENCIES

Ownership and Delivery

Achieves in line with expectations by setting stretching objectives focussed on key priorities. Has a strong results orientation, anticipating obstacles and dealing with setbacks. Holds their squad and delivery partners to account where work is not progressing in line with expectations. Considers the broader implications of their decisions on the rest of the business. Analyses an issue from a business, rather than a functional or personal, perspective.

Building Relationships

Communicates information in a clear and compelling way to relevant people. Builds trust quickly with a wide range of people, both within and outside of own function, to ensure that everyone is aligned. Identifies and proactively involves relevant people in their decision making, seeking to listen to and understand a wide range of views and opinions. Proactively builds relationships and works cooperatively with individuals across the business.

Business Performance

Understands the key financial and operating concepts that drive the business and the interactions between them. Has a strong understanding of the industry and uses this to achieve best practice in what they are doing. Understands the broader implications of what they are doing and seeks to ensure alignment and minimise duplication and overlap. Understands the long-term strategy of easyJet and how their products and objectives align to it.

Customer and Shareholder Value

Seeks to identify and manage risk on an ongoing basis, ensuring that the customer’s and the organisation’s needs are balanced appropriately. Builds long-term and sustainable relationships with customers by continually challenging how their products can exceed customer expectations. Always has the customer in mind when making decisions. Understands the needs of shareholder groups and the different perspectives that they have.

Leading Through Influence

Provides clear direction to their squad, ensuring that everyone is clear on how their work aligns to the bigger picture. Prepared to have difficult conversations with others to maintain a high level of performance. Leads without formal authority, earning followership through clarity, credibility and consistency between what they say and how they behave. Engages positively with others across their department and uses formal and informal recognition on a regular basis.