Principal, Drug and Alcohol Compliance

About the role

The Principal, Drug and Alcohol Compliance serves as a senior subject-matter expert responsible for supporting American Airlines’ compliance with DOT, FAA, and FMCSA drug and alcohol requirements. This role translates regulatory requirements into scalable controls, analytics, and operational processes, leads complex compliance initiatives, and partners across the organization to strengthen safety, data integrity, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

This list is intended to reflect the current job but there may be additional essential functions (and certainly non-essential job functions) that are not referenced. Management will modify the job or require other tasks be performed whenever it is deemed appropriate to do so, observing, of course, any legal obligations including any collective bargaining obligations.

• Serve as a senior technical subject-matter expert for DOT, FAA, and FMCSA drug and alcohol requirements, translating regulations into operational controls and scalable compliance processes.
• Lead the administration and analysis of DOT random testing pools, ensuring accurate population management, selection integrity, reconciliation, and adherence to required testing rates.
• Oversee the 49 CFR 40.25 process, ensuring timely and accurate verification of prior drug and alcohol testing history for regulated hires, including monitoring timeliness, exceptions, and data quality.
• Manage contractor performance, including monitoring service levels, auditing compliance, and driving corrective actions when needed.
• Conduct continuous auditing and data-quality monitoring of regulated team-member populations to ensure proper identification, tracking, and testing throughout hiring, transfers, and job changes.
• Partner with the People Team, Operations, Legal, Safety, and technology/data partners to ensure consistent application of regulatory requirements and reliable compliance data across the organization.
• Develop and maintain documentation, standard operating procedures, dashboards, key metrics, exception reporting, and compliance records to support program decisions and internal and external audits.
• Lead complex cross-functional compliance projects and process or system improvements from requirements and risk assessment through implementation, testing, change management, and sustainment.
• Provide subject-matter expertise and analytical support during regulatory inspections, internal investigations, and compliance reviews.
• Identify process and control risks and implement improvements that strengthen program defensibility, data integrity, audit readiness, and operational efficiency.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, compliance, safety, human resources, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 5 years of experience in DOT drug and alcohol compliance, aviation regulatory compliance, or a similar high-risk compliance environment
• Strong knowledge of DOT/FAA/FMCSA drug and alcohol testing requirements, including 49 CFR Part 40, 14 CFR Part 120, and 49 CFR Part 382, as applicable
• Demonstrated experience managing complex compliance programs with high accuracy and attention to detail
• Experience working with HRIS, compliance systems, or testing program management tools

Qualifications

• Experience in airline operations, safety, or regulatory affairs
• Prior experience administering random testing pools or regulated population management
• Familiarity with contractor oversight and vendor performance management
• Experience using data analytics, dashboards, metrics, and exception reporting to identify compliance risk, trends, and process gaps
• Experience leading cross-functional projects, process redesign, or compliance system implementations in a regulated environment
• Strong communication and project leadership skills with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and drive cross-functional work to completion

Skills

• Expert knowledge of DOT/FAA/FMCSA drug and alcohol regulations and the ability to translate requirements into operational controls
• Strong data analytics, auditing, project management, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to manage sensitive information with discretion and professionalism
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to work cross-functionally and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Benefits

• Travel Perks: You, your family, and your friends can reach 365 destinations on more than 6,800 daily flights across our global network.
• Health Benefits: On day one, access to health, dental, prescription and vision benefits, virtual doctor visits, flexible spending accounts and more.
• Wellness Programs: Tools, resources and support for personal wellness.
• 401(k) Program: Available upon hire; depending on the workgroup, employer contributions available after one year.
• Additional Benefits: Member Assistance Program, pet insurance and discounts on hotels, cars, cruises and more.