Head of Product & Ancillaries      

RwandAir Ltd is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda. It operates domestic and international services to East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East from its main base at Kigali International Airport.  Our mission is to provide unsurpassed, safe, and reliable services in air transportation, including strategically linking Rwanda with the outside world while ensuring a fair return on investment. As part of the expansion strategy, we are looking for interested, qualified, and competent candidates to fill the following position:

• Job Title: Head of Product & Ancillaries
• Reports to:        Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
• Department:     Commercial
• Location:            Kigali International Office

Job Purpose

The Head of Product & Ancillaries is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing all aspects of the airline’s onboard product, encompassing catering and in-flight service offerings together with the full ancillary product and revenue portfolio. The role leads and elevates RwandAir’s catering and onboard service while building ancillary revenue streams that enhance passenger experience, commercial performance, and operational efficiency.

The role ensures high-quality food and beverage services, innovative product development, supplier management, and cost-effective operations, while owning the strategy, growth, and profitability of ancillary products, both onboard and across the customer journey, in line with the airline’s strategic vision.

The Head of Product, Catering & Ancillaries also leads the Customer Experience team, owning the end-to-end passenger experience and ensuring that catering, ancillary, and service initiatives are designed around customer needs and consistently improve satisfaction, loyalty, and commercial outcomes.

a. Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic

• Develop and own a long-term strategy for catering, in-flight service, and ancillary products that aligns with RwandAir’s brand positioning, commercial objectives, and customer expectations.
• Define and own the ancillary revenue roadmap, identifying and prioritising new revenue streams across the end-to-end customer journey (pre-booking, booking, airport, onboard, and post-flight).
• Hold full commercial accountability for the catering and ancillary P&L, balancing customer value with cost control, margin, and revenue growth.
• Act as a key liaison between catering vendors, ancillary partners, operations, marketing, digital, revenue management, and the Customer Experience team to ensure seamless, profitable integration of onboard and ancillary services.

Operational – Catering & In-Flight Products

• Lead the development and transformation of the catering and onboard product, ensuring offerings stay aligned with market trends and customer expectations.
• Curate meal plans, beverage selections, and onboard retail tailored to passenger demographics, while driving unit-cost efficiency in food production and supply.

Operational – Ancillary Products & Revenue

• Own the ancillary product portfolio, including paid seat selection, upgrades, excess and prepaid baggage, onboard retail and duty-free, paid and pre-order meals, lounge access, Wi-Fi/connectivity, insurance, and partner products (car hire, hotels, transfers).
• Set, track, and deliver ancillary revenue and profitability targets (revenue per passenger, margin, and attach/take-up rates), reporting performance against budget and business-case uplift commitments.
• Design pricing, packaging, and bundling strategies that maximise ancillary yield, conversion, and contribution margin, working with Revenue Management and Pricing.
• Drive digital and e-commerce ancillary sales across the website, mobile app, and onboard channels, partnering with Digital/IT to improve the merchandising and checkout experience.
• Identify, negotiate, and manage third-party ancillary and commission-based partnerships, ensuring revenue share, SLAs, and brand standards are met.
• Use data and customer segmentation to personalise ancillary offers and increase take-up while protecting the customer experience.

Supplier & Vendor Management

• Identify, negotiate, and manage contracts with catering providers, in-flight product suppliers, and ancillary product partners.
• Negotiate and manage service-level agreements (SLAs) to drive performance, minimise costs, maximise revenue share, and ensure compliance with safety and hygiene regulations.
• Work with vendors and partners to enhance product quality, presentation, delivery efficiency, and commercial returns.
• Conduct regular performance reviews and benchmark supplier and partner standards against industry best practices.

Operational Excellence, Cost Control & Profitability

• Drive cost control across catering and onboard operations, optimising food production, supply-chain logistics, unit costs, and waste reduction.
• Own budget and cost performance and ancillary profitability, actively managing variances and protecting margin while maintaining service standards.
• Continuously identify and deliver efficiency savings and revenue-uplift opportunities, tracking realisation against the business case.
• Work with fleet operations and aircraft configuration teams to ensure galley space, equipment, and onboard retail capability support service and ancillary requirements cost-effectively.

Compliance & Safety

• Ensure all catering, onboard service, and ancillary product operations comply with local and international aviation regulations and consumer/commercial regulations.
• Conduct audits and quality assurance checks to uphold service and product consistency.
• Work closely with regulatory bodies to maintain the highest standards in food safety and hygiene.

Customer Experience – Team Leadership

• Lead and develop the Customer Experience team, setting strategy, objectives, and standards for the end-to-end passenger journey.
• Own the voice-of-customer programme (feedback, surveys, complaints, competitive analysis), turning insight into prioritised service and ancillary improvements.
• Define and track customer experience KPIs (e.g. NPS/CSAT, complaint resolution, service consistency) and report performance against targets.
• Work with marketing, digital, operations, and ground services to deliver a seamless, consistent, brand-aligned experience across all touchpoints.
• Drive personalisation and up-sell/cross-sell initiatives (e.g. pre-order meals, dietary tracking, premium service) that improve satisfaction and ancillary take-up.

Management & Leadership

• Establish the department or teams’ objectives and priorities to align with and support business objectives.
• Regularly evaluate the department or teams’ objectives, plans, procedures and practices, and make appropriate changes if needed.
• Foster a culture of commercial focus, cost discipline, customer-centricity, and accountability across the catering, ancillary, and Customer Experience teams.
• Train and develop other employees to ensure succession planning is in place.

Commit to and contribute towards the development of Rwandan National talent, by coaching Rwandan National developees, preparing them for a career with boundless potential.

b. About You – Minimum Standard Qualifications & Experience

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Commercial/Marketing, Aviation, or a related field, or equivalent 7–10 years of job-related experience.

Essential

• Minimum of 7+ years of experience in airline catering, hospitality, in-flight service, and/or ancillary revenue management.
• Proven track record of leading brand transformation, in-flight product innovation, and ancillary revenue growth.
• Demonstrated experience building and delivering ancillary revenue streams (e.g. seats, baggage, onboard retail, partner products) against revenue and take-up targets.
• Strong leadership and project management skills with experience in supplier negotiations, partner management, and contract management.
• In-depth knowledge of aviation catering regulations, food safety standards, onboard product innovation, and ancillary/merchandising practices.
• Excellent analytical, financial management, commercial, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, evolving airline environment and drive strategic initiatives.

Job Specific Skills – Essential

• Experience working with a regional or growing airline is a plus.
• Strong understanding of customer behaviour, merchandising, and premium service trends.
• Proficiency in pricing, ancillary merchandising, inventory management, and cost optimisation strategies.
• Familiarity with digital/e-commerce merchandising and retailing platforms (NDC/offer-and-order concepts an advantage).

Passion for elevating passenger experience through innovative catering and ancillary solutions.

c. About You – Other Desired Competencies & Skills;

Essential

Organisational Accountability

• Local accountability with global impact.

Managerial & Supervisory Accountability

• Manages a department within a division.
• Supervises through other management personnel.

Leadership & Strategic Accountability

• Develops policy and sets strategic direction.
• Develops team strategy.

Financial Accountability

• Operating Budget: Manages the catering, ancillary, and customer experience operating budget.
• Expenses: Owns cost control and expenditure performance against budget.
• Revenues: Revenue- and profit-generating role – accountable for ancillary revenue, margin, and the overall profitability of the ancillary product portfolio.

Customer Accountability

• Accountable for the end-to-end customer experience through direct leadership of the Customer Experience team.
• Interfaces with customers inside and outside WB.
• Interfaces with executive decision makers.

Freedom to Act Independently

• Subject to general input from supervising manager.

Additional Work Context Information

• Remain abreast of research and changes/updates in labour regulations and ancillary/commercial market trends.

d. How to Apply:

• An application letter addressed to the Chief HR & Administration Officer;
• Recent Curriculum Vitae;
• Copies of Notarized Degree/Diploma certificates
• Relevant certificates;
• Copies of academic papers;
• A photocopy of the Passport/National ID;
• Three referees

The deadline for submitting application documents (Only PDF Format) is June 23rd, 2026. Please apply via the link: https://erecruitment.rwandair.com/.