Description

Description

At Qatar Airways, we are committed to delivering an onboard experience that sets the standard for premium aviation worldwide. Our Qatar Airways Catering Services function is responsible for the quality, safety, and excellence of everything that reaches our passengers - from the food on the plate and the wine in the glass, to the equipment it is served on and the amenities that complete the journey.
Join our Catering Services leadership team and help build the compliance, quality, and governance infrastructure that ensures every element of the onboard experience meets the highest standards in the industry.

About the Role

As Senior Manager, Compliance and Quality, you will establish and lead the strategic compliance and quality function within Qatar Airways Catering Services, reporting to the VP, Catering Operations. This is a newly elevated role, created to bring senior leadership, strategic thinking, and transformational capability to a function that is critical to the integrity and excellence of everything Qatar Airways delivers to its passengers through its catering services operation.
You will be responsible for building and embedding a compliance and quality framework that covers the full breadth of the QRCS remit - food and beverage quality, onboard equipment, serviceware, passenger amenities, supplier performance, regulatory adherence, and sustainability. Your mandate goes well beyond operational checklists and ISO processes. You will define what quality compliance means for Qatar Airways across every product and service category that QRCS touches, set the standards the organisation holds itself and its suppliers to, and lead the organisational change needed to embed those standards at every level of the operation.

This role requires a leader who brings strategic rigour, commercial awareness, and genuine sensibility for food, beverage, and premium product quality. You will work closely with menu development chefs, procurement, supply chain, and operational teams to ensure that compliance is not a brake on excellence but an enabler of it. By taking ownership of the compliance and quality agenda across QRCS, you will free the culinary and product teams to focus on creativity and innovation rather than reactive quality management.
You will manage and develop an existing compliance team, elevating their capability from operational process management to strategic quality leadership. Working alongside the Grade 9 Compliance Manager, who retains responsibility for day-to-day operational compliance, you will provide the strategic direction, senior leadership, and organisational transformation that the function currently lacks.

As part of your role, your responsibilities will be inclusive of, but not limited to the following:

Compliance Strategy and Governance

• Design, own, and continuously evolve the Qatar Airways Catering Services compliance and quality strategy, establishing a framework that covers the full QRCS remit including food and beverage quality, onboard equipment, serviceware, passenger amenities, supplier performance, regulatory adherence, and sustainability
• Develop and implement policies, procedures, and governance structures that embed compliance as a strategic capability across QRCS rather than a reactive operational function
• Establish and maintain a compliance risk framework, identifying regulatory, operational, and reputational risks across the full catering supply chain and product portfolio, and implementing structured mitigation programmes
• Act as the senior regulatory liaison for QRCS, monitoring changes in food safety legislation, product safety regulation, sustainability policy, and industry standards, and translating these into timely, practical organisational responses
• Lead the design and implementation of performance metrics and KPIs that reflect Qatar Airways' quality standards across all QRCS categories, including food and beverage, equipment, amenities, supplier performance, and regulatory compliance

Food and Beverage Quality Standards

• Define and own Qatar Airways' internal food and beverage quality standards, working in close collaboration with the menu development team to ensure compliance frameworks support and enable culinary and creative excellence rather than constraining it
• Establish structured quality control processes for food and beverage products across the supplier base, ensuring that what is contracted and specified is consistently delivered to the required standard
• Develop and lead a sensory and quality evaluation programme that provides the organisation with regular, evidence-based assessment of food and beverage quality against Qatar Airways' defined standards
• Ensure that culinary compliance is treated as a discipline in its own right, distinct from ISO and operational process compliance, and that the team builds genuine capability in this area over time

Onboard Equipment, Serviceware and Amenity Compliance

• Own the compliance and quality framework for all onboard equipment, galley hardware, serviceware, and passenger amenity products within the QRCS remit, ensuring all items meet Qatar Airways' standards for safety, functionality, durability, and presentation
• Establish and manage a structured quality control programme for equipment and amenity procurement, working with suppliers to validate product specifications, conduct quality assessments, and ensure consistent delivery against approved standards
• Lead the audit and review process for equipment and amenity suppliers, identifying quality gaps, managing remediation, and driving continuous improvement across the product portfolio
• Ensure all onboard equipment and amenity products comply with applicable safety regulations, airline operational requirements, and Qatar Airways' sustainability commitments, including restrictions on single-use plastics and responsible material sourcing

Supplier Quality Management

• Lead the strategic supplier quality management programme across all QRCS supplier categories - food, beverage, equipment, serviceware, amenities, and other non-food catering suppliers - ensuring performance is measured, managed, and continuously improved against defined quality standards
• Oversee and enhance the supplier audit programme, ensuring audits are rigorous, consistent, and structured to identify systemic quality issues rather than simply verifying procedural compliance
• Build and manage strategic supplier relationships at a senior level, conducting regular performance reviews, setting improvement targets, and holding suppliers accountable for quality outcomes
• Develop supplier capability in areas critical to Qatar Airways' quality standards, including food safety, product quality, sustainability practices, and operational reliability

Sustainability and Regulatory Compliance

• Lead QRCS's sustainability compliance agenda across all product and service categories, ensuring the function meets and exceeds regulatory requirements on waste management, single-use plastics, carbon reduction, responsible sourcing, and product lifecycle standards
• Develop and implement a structured sustainability compliance roadmap, translating Qatar Airways' group sustainability commitments into practical, measurable programmes across the full QRCS operation
• Engage with industry partners, regulatory bodies, and sustainability organisations to ensure Qatar Airways remains ahead of the compliance curve in a rapidly evolving regulatory and environmental landscape

Organisational Change and Capability Building

• Lead the transformation of the QRCS compliance function from an operationally focused, process-driven team to a strategic quality and compliance capability that operates with commercial awareness, culinary and product sensibility, and strategic rigour
• Develop and implement a structured capability building programme for the existing compliance team, raising skills and ways of working across culinary quality assessment, product compliance, strategic supplier management, data-driven performance management, and sustainability compliance
• Drive organisational change management across QRCS to embed a culture of quality and compliance excellence at every level of the operation, ensuring teams understand, own, and apply quality standards as a matter of professional pride rather than procedural obligation
• Partner with the VP, Catering Operations and broader QRCS leadership to define how the compliance function integrates with culinary, procurement, operations, and supply chain teams, and to shape the operating model that enables the function to perform at its best

Team Leadership

• Lead, develop, and inspire the compliance and quality team, setting high expectations, managing performance, and creating a working environment where capability grows and standards are continuously raised
• Work alongside the Grade 9 Compliance Manager to ensure day-to-day operational compliance activity is well managed, while focusing personal leadership energy on strategic direction, organisational change, and senior stakeholder engagement
• Build the compliance and quality function's reputation as a centre of excellence within QRCS and across the Qatar Airways group, positioning it as the function that enables excellence rather than simply enforcing process

Be part of an extraordinary story

Your skills. Your imagination. Your ambition. Here, there are no boundaries to your potential and the impact you can make. You'll find infinite opportunities to grow and work on the biggest, most rewarding challenges that will build your skills and experience. You have the chance to be a part of our future and build the life you want while being part of an international community.

Our best is here and still to come. To us, impossible is only a challenge. Join us as we dare to achieve what's never been done before.

Together, everything is possible.

Qualification

About You

• Bachelor's Degree in Food Science, Hospitality Management, Quality Management, Business, or a related discipline. A Master's degree or professional qualification in quality management, food safety, or a related field is advantageous. Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in compliance, quality management, or food and beverage and product operations, with a clear track record of operating at a senior or strategic level.
• Proven experience leading a compliance or quality function at a senior level across multiple product or service categories, with a track record of building capability, driving change, and delivering measurable improvement in quality outcomes
  Genuine food, beverage, and premium product sensibility - sufficient to engage credibly with culinary teams, assess quality against defined standards, and champion product excellence as a compliance objective
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement strategic compliance frameworks that span multiple product categories and go beyond process adherence to embed quality as an organisational value
• Experience leading organisational change and capability building programmes within a compliance, operations, or quality function, with a track record of elevating team skills, ways of working, and professional standards
• Strong knowledge of food safety and regulatory frameworks including HACCP, ISO, and relevant food and beverage and product safety legislation, with the ability to translate regulatory requirements into practical compliance programmes
• Proven experience in strategic supplier quality management across diverse supplier categories, including the design and oversight of audit programmes, KPI frameworks, supplier reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Experience establishing quality control processes for physical products - whether food, equipment, serviceware, amenities, or consumer goods - in a premium or operationally complex environment
• Familiarity with sustainability and environmental compliance frameworks, including waste management, single-use plastics regulation, responsible sourcing, and product lifecycle standards
• Strong executive presence and stakeholder leadership skills, with the ability to influence and engage at VP and C-suite level and to drive alignment across cross-functional teams
• Proficiency in data analysis and performance reporting tools, with the ability to translate compliance data into compelling strategic narratives for senior leadership

Preferred

• Experience in an airline, premium hospitality, luxury food service, high-volume catering, or consumer goods environment where quality standards are exceptionally high and operationally complex
• Relevant professional certifications in food safety, quality management, or sustainability, including HACCP Lead Auditor, ISO 22000, or equivalent ESG and sustainability credentials
• Experience working alongside or within a culinary or product development team, with an understanding of how compliance frameworks can support and enable creativity and innovation
• Familiarity with catering supply chain management, logistics, and the operational complexity of delivering consistent quality across multiple product categories at scale
• Exposure to change management methodologies and experience transforming operationally embedded teams into strategically oriented functions

About Qatar Airways Group

Our story started with four aircraft. Today, we deliver excellence across 12 different businesses coming together as one. We've grown fast, broken records and set trends that others follow. We don't slow down by the fear of failure. Instead, we dare to achieve what's never been done before.

So, whether you're creating a unique experience for our customers or innovating behind the scenes, every person contributes to our proud story. A story of spectacular growth and determination. Now is the time to bring your best ideas and passion to a place where your ambition will know no boundaries and be part of a truly global community.

How to apply

If you're ready to join a progressive team and have a challenging and rewarding career, then apply now by uploading your CV and completing our quick application form.

https://aa115.taleo.net/careersection/QA_External_CS/jobapply.ftl?lang=en&job=26000087