Senior Analyst - Catering Financial Controls

United Airlines; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 82,000 - 107,000; Full time

Job summary

United Airlines seeks a Senior Analyst - Catering Financial Controls in Chicago, a hybrid role combining in-office and remote work. You’ll audit pricing submissions, manage price lists, and support contract and bid processes to influence pricing strategies and budgeting for global catering operations.

You will build financial models, analyze variances, and collaborate with internal stakeholders and external suppliers to ensure pricing integrity and contract compliance across regions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 2+ years of relevant experience in business, finance, financial controls, or a related functional area.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including experience analyzing and manipulating large data sets.
• Strong financial acumen, negotiation skills, attention to detail, and written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with internal stakeholders, external suppliers, caterers, and vendors.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship.
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification.
• Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position.

Responsibilities

• Audit and analyze monthly and annual pricing submissions from catering partners and vendors, confirming that new and updated pricing aligns with contracts, agreed-upon food costs, ingredient yields, provisioning requirements, and product specifications.
• Establish price lists for new catering locations and vendors, process required pricing updates and maintain accurate scheduled item and service pricing in the company’s catering management system.
• Collaborate with caterers and suppliers to resolve exception requests, missing prices, pricing discrepancies, and other issues identified during the pricing review and approval process.
• Support contract and pricing-methodology negotiations with catering vendors and provide financial analysis for menu-planning and other key catering initiatives.
• Analyze year-over-year pricing changes to verify that contractual requirements and approved adjustments have been applied accurately.
• Implement and support the global catering bid, financial analysis, and contract-award process.
• Partner with Finance to support monthly accruals, company forecasts, out-of-period payment reporting, and development of the annual operating budget.
• Build financial models, perform variance and ad-hoc cost analyses, communicate findings to stakeholders, and provide training on established pricing procedures.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Financial analysis

Negotiation

Communication

Stakeholder collaboration

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or related field

Tools

Oracle

CAE

Coupa

SAP

Job description

Senior Analyst - Catering Financial Controls

Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Achieving our goals starts with supporting yours. Grow your career, access top-tier health and wellness benefits, build lasting connections with your team and our customers, and travel the world using our extensive route network.

Come join us to create what’s next. Let’s define tomorrow, together.

Description

About the job

The Senior Analyst - Catering Financial Controls supports Catering Operations worldwide through financial analysis, pricing controls, contract compliance, and vendor collaboration. This role audits catering pricing submissions, evaluates price changes against contract terms and product specifications, and coordinates the setup and maintenance of pricing within the catering management system. The Senior Analyst also supports pricing negotiations, menu-cost analysis, global bid processes, accruals, forecasts, annual operating budgets, and other financial initiatives that inform business decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Audit and analyze monthly and annual pricing submissions from catering partners and vendors, confirming that new and updated pricing aligns with contracts, agreed-upon food costs, ingredient yields, provisioning requirements, and product specifications.
• Establish price lists for new catering locations and vendors, process required pricing updates and maintain accurate scheduled item and service pricing in the company’s catering management system.
• Collaborate with caterers and suppliers to resolve exception requests, missing prices, pricing discrepancies, and other issues identified during the pricing review and approval process.
• Support contract and pricing-methodology negotiations with catering vendors and provide financial analysis for menu-planning and other key catering initiatives.
• Analyze year-over-year pricing changes to verify that contractual requirements and approved adjustments have been applied accurately.
• Implement and support the global catering bid, financial analysis, and contract-award process.
• Partner with Finance to support monthly accruals, company forecasts, out-of-period payment reporting, and development of the annual operating budget.
• Build financial models, perform variance and ad-hoc cost analyses, communicate findings to stakeholders, and provide training on established pricing procedures.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field
• 2+ years of relevant experience in business, finance, financial controls, or a related functional area
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including experience analyzing and manipulating large data sets
• Strong financial acumen, negotiation skills, attention to detail, and written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with internal stakeholders, external suppliers, caterers, and vendors
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
• Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree or additional relevant experience in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field
• Experience in the airline, hospitality, catering, or food-services industry, including knowledge of airport operations
• Experience with continuous improvement and information management systems such as Oracle, CAE, Coupa, or SAP
• Experience with data analysis and visualization tools such as Microsoft Power BI or Tableau
• Demonstrates an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of generative AI tools and effectively leverages them to support research, analysis, content creation, and problem-solving. Apply critical thinking to validate AI-generated outputs while adhering to organizational policies for responsible AI use, data privacy, and security.

Note: This is a Chicago-based hybrid role, with in-office requirements 50% of the time.

The base pay range for this role is $81,795.00 to $106,602.00.

The base salary range/hourly rate listed is dependent on job-related, factors such as experience, education, and skills.

This position is also eligible for bonus and/or long-term incentive compensation awards.