Inflight Services Food and Beverage Manager

Location: Hybrid - 3 days at our VHQ, Crawley

Hours: Full Time, 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: Sunday 12 April 2026

At Virgin Atlantic Airways, we believe that everyone can take on the world, and it's our vision to become the most loved travel company. As we embark on this next exciting stage of our journey, we're harnessing our spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation to challenge the status quo.

As Manager - Inflight Services Food & Beverage, you'll play a key role in shaping and delivering our onboard food and beverage experience, with a primary focus on our UK operation and catering partners. Reporting to the Senior Manager - Global Inflight Services F&B, you'll own the end-to-end product lifecycle, from menu development through to supplier delivery, ensuring our offering meets brand ambition, customer expectations, and budget targets.

This role is UK-focused, with close collaboration across our global network and partners.

This is a brilliant opportunity to combine creativity, commercial awareness, and supplier management to influence one of the most visible parts of the Virgin Atlantic customer journey.

• Define and deliver the onboard Food & Beverage vision, ensuring alignment with the Virgin Atlantic brand
• Lead menu and product development across all cabins, working closely with UK catering suppliers while aligning to the wider global strategy
• Manage day-to-day budget performance, balancing cost control with continuous product improvement
• Use data, insight and competitor analysis to evolve the F&B proposition and enhance customer satisfaction
• Oversee live product performance, identifying trends and driving improvements in collaboration with operational teams
• Support annual budgeting and forecasting, ensuring delivery against Design to Cost targets
• Manage supplier relationships and contribute to supplier selection and tender processes
• Develop and embed clear F&B policies and supplier standards across the network
• Lead and deliver F&B-related projects on time and within budget
• Own key processes including product performance tracking and menu-related documentation (e.g. menu cards, allergen information)
• Identify and develop Brand Alliance opportunities to enhance the onboard experience

We're looking for someone with a strong background in food and beverage who thrives in a fast-paced, commercial environment and enjoys working across multiple stakeholders and suppliers.

In addition to the above, we'd love for our successful candidate to demonstrate the following:

• Proven experience in the food and beverage industry (hospitality, culinary, or hotel management)
• Relevant qualification in catering or food, including Food Hygiene Level 3
• Strong experience managing third-party suppliers and delivering through service contracts
• Commercial awareness with experience managing budgets and identifying cost efficiencies
• Ability to analyse data and translate insights into meaningful product improvements
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across internal and external partners
• Strong project management capability with a track record of delivering to time and budget
• Attention to detail and a structured approach to processes and governance
• It would be great if you also have experience working in a global or aviation-related environment, though this is not essential.

If this sounds like you, and you would like to unlock your potential with us, we would love to hear from you!

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That's why we're proud to be an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We celebrate difference and everything that makes our colleagues unique by upholding an inclusive environment in which we can all thrive. So that everyone at Virgin Atlantic can be themselves and know they belong.

To make your journey with us accessible and individual to you, we encourage you to let us know if you'd like a little extra help with your application, or if you have any individual requirements at any stage along your recruitment journey. We are here to support you, so please reach out to our team feeling confident that we've got your individual considerations covered.