Director of Pricing

With revenues in excess of $2 billion annually, Gate Gourmet is poised to take on new and exciting challenges in 2006.  With our US Operations dating back to 1941, Gate Gourmet is the global leader in the airline catering business.  Our 22,000 employees produce approximately 195 million quality meals each year in 115 flight kitchens in 30 different countries over 5 continents.  As Director of Pricing, you will assume high level ownership of the pricing processes and strategies for all of our customers in our US operations. In addition to monitoring and continuously improving our internal pricing processes, your role will have an external focus as well. You will be involved in the development of new business proposals for existing locations and new locations in the airline catering business. In this leadership role, you will report to the Vice President of Finance & CFO.

Responsibilities:

You will interface with our units across the country (these units are catering kitchens located near to major airports), our Marketing Executives, the Finance/Accounting department and our Legal and Billing departments.
More specifically, your role will include: Reviewing all pricing formulas and periodically auditing each airline's pricing to ensure optimum results. As you see the need, you will recommend changes and strategies for improvement. In response to service modification requests from our customers, you will recommend adjustments to the pricing formulae. Reviewing and verifying all bid proposals with the assigned Pricing Analyst. This aspect of your role will include reviewing information such as: operating statement capital requirements ROE projections Reviewing all Pricing Services policies and procedures (these standards are set by a Pricing Committee) for compliance. These policies and procedures include wage rate calculations, markup calculations, billing procedures, trend analysis reports (i.e., food cost averaging), Profit & Loss Statements (Comparative Operating Statement) Researching and analyzing new joint venture possibilities. Your role will include the amalgamating data, P&L development and presenting the final package to the Pricing Committee. Reviewing unit purchasing to ensure that their costs are within pricing parameters. From time to time, you may conduct on-site unit audits with the assistance of a Pricing Analyst. Monitoring the average costing systems, airline contractual agreements, food cost averaging systems in Gate Gourmet's Bill of Material System, airline systems and Pricing Services Department internal systems. Developing methods to simplify work processes in pricing and analysis.

In addition, you will assist in the development of marketing plans and in the strategic planning process

Qualifications:Bachelor's degree. Significant (10+ years) operations management experience, including: pricing and financial analysis; experience managing teams of people, and an ability to influence peers and manage complex projects; knowledge of quantitative analysis and statistics; quality assurance experience, particularly with regard to consistency of product delivery; P&L responsibility/management; and Process development and improvement. High degree of self-motivation and the ability to work independently. Aggressive, "devil in the details" approach to problem solving. A willingness to "roll up your sleeves" and get deeply involved in a highly process-oriented business. Outstanding interpersonal skills. Solid written and oral communication skills. Strong skills in PowerPoint to create compelling, concise presentations. Ability to assess and pursue new business opportunities.

Preferred: MBA. Experience in airline catering, airline, or food service management. Training in quality/process improvement programs and tools such as Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM), or Statistical Process Control (SPC).

 

If this sounds like the right role and you meet the aforementioned qualifications, please submit your resume for immediate consideration.