Hospitality Operations Specialist

American Express Global Business Travel; Juneau (AK); On-site; USD 55,000 - 103,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible benefits

Travel perks

Learning platform access

Inclusion programs

Job summary

Amex GBT is seeking an experienced Hospitality Operations Specialist to own the food and beverage plan for large corporate events in the United States. You will partner with hotels and venues to craft menus, manage budgets, and review banquet orders.

You’ll oversee dietary needs, guarantees, and compliance while driving cost-effective, high-quality experiences across sessions and receptions. A strong background in catering contracts and client relations is essential.

Qualifications

• Five or more years managing food and beverage for large corporate meetings and events.
• Fluency with banquet event orders, guarantees, attrition clauses, service charges, and how catering contracts bill.
• Track record owning a food and beverage budget line and reconciling it at program close.
• Comfort negotiating with venue catering and convention services teams, and reviewing hospitality terms in venue contracts.
• Experience contributing to venue or supplier sourcing, RFP responses, or proposal cost models.
• Understanding room sets, show flow, load in/strike, and labor rules; food/beverage shares timelines and crews.
• Precise written communication: BEO markups, change logs, client updates.
• Strong client presence; ability to present recommendations to stakeholders.
• Works independently and stays organized; capable of balancing multiple accounts.
• Preferred: CMP/CPCE or related credential.

Responsibilities

• Own the food and beverage plan for every assigned program on the dedicated account, with menus and beverage strategy aligned to objectives and budget.
• Serve as primary point of contact for hotel and venue catering teams, review and approve banquet event orders, and ensure venues meet agreed terms.
• Manage dietary, allergen, and accessibility requirements from intake to onsite verification.
• Track guarantees, attrition, and consumption against minimums; surface financial exposure early.
• Negotiate minimums, service charges, gratuities, corkage, and labor fees; own the budget line and reconcile invoices.
• Lead onsite F&B execution across sessions, tastings, site walks, and daily touchpoints during program weeks.
• Support venue and supplier sourcing from RFP through contract handoff; own catering terms in contracts.
• Contribute F&B content and cost modeling to new business proposals with the Proposal Team.
• Lead operations projects from brief to delivery, including peak-window support.
• Build and maintain F&B standards, supplier intelligence, and reference materials across programs.

Skills

Food and beverage management

Budget management

Vendor negotiation

Contract terms knowledge

Client presence

Independent & organized

Communication skills

Education

CMP/CPCE or related credential

Hospitality/culinary credential

Job description

United States

Full time

J-84109

Amex GBT is a place where colleagues find inspiration in travel as a force for good and - through their work - can make an impact on our industry. We’re here to help our colleagues achieve success and offer an inclusive and collaborative culture where your voice is valued.

Food and beverage is where event programs are most often judged and most often overspent. This role puts a single owner on it. The Hospitality Operations Specialist owns food and beverage strategy and delivery on a dedicated account, from menu and beverage concept through banquet event orders, onsite execution, and final reconciliation. Because that ownership sits closest to venues, catering teams, and contract terms, the role also supports The Experience Studio's event operations team on sourcing, proposals, and program delivery across the portfolio.

What You'll Do

• Own the food and beverage plan for every assigned program on the dedicated account, with menus and beverage strategy aligned to program objectives, audience profile, and approved budget, and present recommendations to client stakeholders in terms of program outcomes rather than cost alone.

• Serve as primary point of contact for hotel and venue catering teams, convention services, and outside caterers. Author, review, and approve banquet event orders, then hold venues to what was agreed.

• Manage dietary, allergen, and accessibility requirements across every function, from intake through onsite verification.

• Track guarantees, attrition, and consumption against contracted minimums, and surface financial exposure before it becomes a charge.

• Negotiate food and beverage minimums, service charge and gratuity terms, corkage, and labor fees. Lead the food and beverage budget line, validate banquet checks and invoices against contracted terms, and reconcile at program close.

• Lead onsite food and beverage execution across general sessions, breakouts, receptions, and hospitality functions, including tastings, site walks, and daily catering touchpoints, with the travel, occasional weekends, and extended days that program weeks require.

• Support venue and supplier sourcing for studio programs from RFP through contract handoff, owning the catering, hospitality, and food and beverage terms inside those contracts.

• Contribute food and beverage content, hospitality concepts, and cost modeling to new business proposals in partnership with the Global Event Proposal Team.

• Lead operations projects sponsored by the Head of Event Operations, from brief through delivery, including program delivery support during peak windows.

• Build and maintain food and beverage standards, supplier intelligence, and reference materials the team reuses across programs and proposals, and keep food and beverage milestones aligned with Meeting Coordinators, Meeting Managers, and Team Leads.

What We're Looking For

• Five or more years managing food and beverage for large corporate meetings and events, on the agency side or in hotel and venue catering and convention services.

• Demonstrated fluency with banquet event orders, guarantees, attrition clauses, service charges, and how catering contracts actually bill.

• Track record owning a food and beverage budget line and reconciling it at program close.

• Comfort negotiating directly with venue catering and convention services teams, and with reading and marking up the hospitality terms of a venue contract.

• Experience contributing to venue or supplier sourcing, RFP responses, or proposal cost models, including the ability to build a defensible per person estimate before a menu exists.

• Fluency in how a general session and the functions around it actually get built: room sets and turns, show flow, load in and strike schedules, power and rigging orders, and the labor and union rules that govern all of it. Food and beverage shares rooms, timelines, and crews with the show, and this role has to see the collisions before the venue does.

• Precise written communication: banquet event order markups, change logs, and client updates that hold up when read back months later.

• Strong client presence, able to hold a recommendation in front of a corporate stakeholder.

• Works independently and stays organized, with the judgment to prioritize when everything is urgent and to split time between a dedicated account and work across the studio.

• Preferred: hotel, resort, or venue catering and convention services background; time on the delivery side of large general sessions, in any seat; experience on a dedicated account team operating under a client statement of work; CMP, CPCE, or a related hospitality or culinary credential.

Location

United States

The US national base salary range for this position is from

$55 300,00 - $102 700,00

The national range provided includes the base salary that Amex GBT expects to pay for the role. Actual base salary will be based on factors including the scope and complexity of the role and the successful candidate’s relevant experience, skills, knowledge, and work location.

For information about our comprehensive US benefits programs and eligibility, please review our Benefits-at-a-Glance document.

Benefits at a glance (https://experience100.ehr.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=CjACTXO3wMk%3d&portalid=66)

The #TeamGBT Experience

Work and life: Find your happy medium at Amex GBT.

• Flexible benefits are tailored to each country and start the day you do. These include health and welfare insurance plans, retirement programs, parental leave, adoption assistance, and wellbeing resources to support you and your immediate family.

• Travel perks: get a choice of deals each week from major travel providers on everything from flights to hotels to cruises and car rentals.

• Develop the skills you want when the time is right for you, with access to over 20,000 courses on our learning platform, leadership courses, and new job openings available to internal candidates first.

• We strive to champion Inclusion in every aspect of our business at Amex GBT. You can connect with colleagues through our global INclusion Groups, centered around common identities or initiatives, to discuss challenges, obstacles, achievements, and drive company awareness and action.

• And much more!

All applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to age, sex, gender (and characteristics related to sex and gender), pregnancy (and related medical conditions), race, color, citizenship, religion, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by law.

Furthermore, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please let your recruiter know if you need an accommodation at any point during the hiring process. For details regarding how we protect your data, please consult the Amex GBT Recruitment Privacy Statement (https://www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/gbt-recruitment-privacy-statement/) .

What if I don’t meet every requirement?

If you’re passionate about our mission and believe you’d be a phenomenal addition to our team, don’t worry about “checking every box;