About Us: AAR Corp. (NYSE: AIR) is a global aerospace and defense aftermarket solutions company that employs more than 6,000 people across over 60 sites in over 20 countries. Headquartered in the Chicago, Illinois area, AAR supports commercial and government customers in more than 100 countries through four operating segments: Parts Supply, Integrated Solutions, Repair and Engineering and Expeditionary Services. AAR’s purpose is to empower people to build innovative aerospace solutions today so you can safely reach your destination tomorrow. The company’s mission is to go above and beyond to provide value-driven aerospace aftermarket solutions to meet the evolving needs of our customers worldwide. AAR constantly searches for the right thing to do for its customers, employees, partners and for society.
What you will be responsible for:
- Lead and manage a team of approximately 5–8 Supplier Managers, responsible for a global network of 100+ repair suppliers.
- Own the end-to-end repair cycle, from supplier receipt and quotation through approval, repair completion, shipment, and return of serviceable units.
- Drive supplier performance to ensure repaired components are returned on time and in accordance with operational requirements and contractual commitments.
- Monitor and improve Turnaround Time (TAT) across the repair supplier network, identifying delays and implementing recovery actions.
- Ensure suppliers provide timely quotations and drive internal and external actions required to minimize quote-to-approval cycle time.
- Establish priorities and recovery plans for critical, overdue, AOG, and operationally constrained units.
- Review repair WIP and aging reports regularly with the team, ensuring appropriate follow-up, escalation, and corrective actions.
- Monitor supplier performance through key metrics including TAT, quote turnaround time, on-time delivery, past-due units, WIP aging, and supplier responsiveness.
- Conduct regular performance reviews with key suppliers and develop corrective action and recovery plans where performance falls below expectations.
- Serve as an escalation point for significant supplier issues affecting aircraft availability, customer commitments, inventory levels, or operational performance.
- Partner with Procurement, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Finance, Logistics, and Program teams to resolve repair-cycle constraints and improve material availability.
- Identify opportunities to reduce overall repair-cycle time, eliminate bottlenecks, improve processes, and increase supplier accountability.
- Provide management with clear reporting on repair performance, risks, trends, critical shortages, and recovery actions.
- Coach and develop team members, establish clear priorities and expectations, and promote consistent supplier-management practices across the team.
- Support cost-control initiatives by identifying repeat repairs, excessive repair costs, unnecessary expedites, BER trends, and other opportunities for improvement.
- Drive a culture of ownership, urgency, proactive communication, and continuous improvement throughout the repair supply chain
What you need to be successful in this role:
- With leadership experience and a track record leading recovery and improvement initiatives
- Background in supply chain or repair management. (Ideally in aviation)
- Managed suppliers at scale, led a team, know how to handle escalations.
- 5 to 10 years in a related environment.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORK ENVIRONMENT:
- The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
- Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be regularly required to sit, stand, bend, reach and move about the facility.
- The environmental characteristic for this position is an office setting.
- Candidates should be able to adapt to a traditional business environment.
We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, PTO, as well as, opportunities for professional development and growth.
