Senior Relief Chef

This is a hands-on, operational Senior Relief Chef role, designed to improve food consistency, food quality, recipe adherence and standards delivery across our venues.

Senior Relief Chefs spend the majority of their time running kitchens, just like our relief chefs, but also play a key role in reinforcing standards, coaching teams and ensuring that the same dish is delivered to the same standard in every site.

This is not an executive or office-based chef role — standards are delivered through doing, cooking, coaching and leading by example in live services.

About Our Venues

Our venues operate in busy, fast-paced kitchen environments where consistency, organisation and strong execution are essential.

You’ll work across a diverse estate with:

Menus developed through a mix of site-led, centrally driven and collaborative approaches
Clear venue food briefs, recipes and specifications that define how food should be delivered
A strong expectation of consistent execution of company standards across all sites
Kitchens of varying sizes, layouts and equipment, requiring adaptability and strong organisation
High-volume services where calm leadership and structured organisation are key

If you enjoy variety, operational responsibility, and delivering food to clearly defined standards while supporting teams to do the same, this role offers genuine scope to make an impact across the business

Senior Relief Chef Duties

Operational Kitchen Leadership (Approx. 75%)

Run kitchens across multiple sites, covering holidays, sickness and vacancies
Lead services confidently, maintaining food quality under pressure
Deliver menus exactly to spec, ensuring consistency in flavour, presentation and portioning
Maintain excellent prep standards, organisation and kitchen discipline
Integrate quickly into different teams and kitchen environments

Food Standards, Spec & Training Leadership (Approx. 25%)

Act as a field-based food standards leader within your assigned cluster of venues
Reinforce recipe adherence, spec accuracy and plating standards
Coach chefs on cooking technique, prep discipline and service execution
Support menu launches, ensuring dishes are delivered correctly from day one
Ensure correct use of Procure Wizard, including ordering accuracy, yields and waste
Identify skill gaps and deliver hands-on training during operational shifts
Support new head chefs and developing kitchen teams
Escalate recurring issues and provide structured feedback to the Head of Food
Delivering kitchen & food standards audits

Health, Safety & Hygiene

Maintain the highest standards of food safety, hygiene and cleanliness
Ensure all sites operate in line with food safety legislation and company standards
Lead by example on allergen control, labelling and safe food handling

Required Skills & Experience

Essential

Proven experience as a Head Chef or strong Senior Sous Chef
Confident running different kitchens with minimal supervision
Strong technical cooking skills and attention to detail
Excellent understanding of spec, recipe discipline and portion control
Experience using procurement or recipe management systems (PW desirable)
Ability to coach and develop chefs in a practical, supportive way
Full UK driving licence

Personal Attributes

Highly organised and calm under pressure
Adaptable and flexible across different venues and teams
Strong communicator who leads through example
Passionate about food quality, consistency and standards
Proactive problem-solver with a continuous improvement mindset

Career Development & Progression

This role provides a clear progression pathway into senior food leadership roles, including:

Food Development
Kitchen Training & Development
Senior Food Operations
Future Executive Food Team positions

You will work closely with the Head of Food, Food Development Manager and Group Kitchen Training Manager, gaining exposure to the wider food strategy and development pipeline.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive pay and bonus structure, we offer:

Staff discount ranging from 25%–50% on food & beverage across all Signature Group venues
Employee Assistance Programme
Additional annual leave accrued through length of service
Structured development and progression opportunities
Variety, autonomy and influence across a multi-site estate

Applying for Signature

If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, apply today by sending in your CV.

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