Sous Chef - Pastry

We are looking for an experienced and hands-on Sous Chef to join the production team of a fast-growing company operating across multiple markets. You will play a key role in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the kitchen, ensuring every order is produced on time, to the required quality standards, and in line with food safety and operational requirements.

In this role, you will have end-to-end responsibility for the kitchen floor, overseeing multiple production sections including cake artistry, decorating, baking, chocolate, and stewarding. You will lead and develop the kitchen team, manage daily production against order volumes, maintain quality and food-safety standards, and drive efficient use of people, ingredients, and resources.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the day-to-day operations of all kitchen and production sections, including cake artistry, decorating, baking, chocolate, and stewarding.
• Manage daily production plans and ensure orders are completed accurately and on time.
• Monitor recipe adherence and finished-product quality against required standards.
• Identify and resolve quality issues before products reach dispatch.
• Manage kitchen inventory levels in coordination with Procurement and Inventory teams, minimizing stockouts and unnecessary waste.
• Build and adjust staff schedules based on daily order volumes and production requirements.
• Allocate workloads across sections to ensure efficient use of the kitchen team.
• Lead, coach, and hold section heads and their teams accountable for performance, quality, and productivity.
• Conduct daily production briefings to communicate order volumes, priorities, special requests, and operational requirements.
• Identify training and development needs across the kitchen team and work with HR on onboarding and employee development.
• Enforce food safety, hygiene, sanitation, and HACCP standards across the facility.
• Work closely with the QC team to maintain consistent food-safety and quality standards.
• Own escalations related to design, product quality, rework, and delivery timelines.
• Make decisions on whether products require rework, should be held, or are ready for release.
• Monitor and report kitchen performance, including production output, quality, and on-time completion.
• Manage key kitchen cost drivers including labor, ingredients, and wastage against the facility budget.
• Develop capacity plans for peak periods and ensure all sections are prepared for increased production volumes.
• Identify opportunities to improve kitchen workflows, layouts, processes, and overall productivity.
• Act as the senior decision-maker on kitchen equipment, workflow, and operational changes affecting production.
• Work cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, and other teams on new launches, seasonal collections, and production planning.
• Maintain a clean, organized, safe, and efficient kitchen environment.

Requirements

• 7-10 years of professional kitchen, bakery, or food production experience.
• Previous experience managing a multi-section kitchen, bakery, or high-volume production facility.
• Strong knowledge of cake production and decoration, including expert-level fondant and cake-craft skills.
• Excellent eye for detail with a strong understanding of product quality and presentation.
• Proven experience managing and developing a multi-person kitchen team.
• Strong experience with staff scheduling, coaching, performance management, and team development.
• Working knowledge of inventory management, food cost, wastage, and production planning.
• Strong understanding of food safety, hygiene, sanitation, and HACCP principles.
• Ability to manage production efficiently against changing order volumes and tight deadlines.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills, with the ability to remain calm under pressure.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Commercially aware with an understanding of kitchen budgets and cost control.
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail and operational follow-through.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-volume production environment.
• Hands-on leadership style with a willingness to be involved in day-to-day kitchen operations.