Chef de Partie | Aqua Dining

RGIT Australia; Sydney; On-site; AUD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

SRG Hospitality's Aqua Dining at Milsons Point is seeking a confident CDP or capable Demi to lead a section with mise en place, precision, and pace under pressure.

You will own your board, drive consistency, manage stock, and contribute to opening-focused menu development as the team scales across multiple venues.

Join a landmark venue where the level of service, quality standards and career progression are built into every shift.

Qualifications

• CDP experience or a Demi genuinely ready to step up.
• Cert III Commercial Cookery or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Real command of one or more sections in a quality-driven, high-volume kitchen.
• Produce-led cooking — Italian or Modern Australian is an advantage, not a requirement.
• HACCP, food safety, allergen management and stock control.
• Composure on a Saturday night with a full book and a view that fills every table.
• Available across evenings, weekends and public holidays — we trade seven days.

Responsibilities

• Own your section — mise en place, execution under pressure, consistency on every plate that leaves it, and the standard of the commis working under you.
• This is section leadership, not station filling. Run your own board, know your numbers, hold your own quality bar without being asked.

Skills

CDP experience

Demi readiness

Education

Cert III Commercial Cookery

Job description

Milsons Point, New South Wales 2061, Australia

Full-time Permanent Entry Level

Posted 09 Sep 2026

Description

Full-time | Aqua Dining, Milsons Point | New Opening

FOUR REASONS TO APPLY RIGHT NOW

1. Every section is open. Larder, pasta, grill, sauce, pastry. A from-scratch brigade in a rebuilt kitchen. You pick your board.

2. You are hired now and paid to train before you open. From the day you sign, you are cooking real service inside one of our kitchens — Ripples, Riva, Sails, The Nielsen, Ventuno, Noi. You learn our specs, suppliers and people first, then walk into Aqua with a team you already know.

3. The pathway is short and it is real. CDP → Junior Sous → Sous → Head Chef → Executive Chef → Group Culinary. We are growing past 600 people in three months across fifteen venues heading to twenty-four. That creates leadership seats faster than we can hire them externally, so we promote into them.

4. You will open a landmark, not inherit one. Menu development, section design, prep systems, ordering rhythms - the brigade builds them together. Opening a room like this stays on your résumé for the rest of your career.

THE ROLE

You own your section — mise en place, execution under pressure, consistency on every plate that leaves it, and the standard of the commis working under you.

This is section leadership, not station filling. Run your own board, know your numbers, hold your own quality bar without being asked.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• CDP experience, or a Demi genuinely ready to step up
• Cert III Commercial Cookery or equivalent demonstrated experience
• Real command of one or more sections in a quality-driven, high-volume kitchen
• Produce-led cooking — Italian or Modern Australian is an advantage, not a requirement
• HACCP, food safety, allergen management and stock control
• Composure on a Saturday night with a full book and a view that fills every table
• Available across evenings, weekends and public holidays — we trade seven days

We hire on attitude as much as technique. A chef who is clean, prepared, honest about mistakes and generous with the commis beats a faster chef who is none of those things.

THE PROCESS

• Trial Shift at an operating SRG venue
• Offer full-time/casual contract, salary/wage confirmed
• Placement into an SRG kitchen immediately, training toward November

THE LOCATION

Milsons Point, on the harbour, with the Bridge on one shoulder and the Opera House across the water.

Aqua opened in 2000 and spent twenty-three years as one of Sydney's most awarded and most booked dining rooms — the room the city chose when the occasion mattered. We closed in 2023 for building works and reopen in November with a rebuilt kitchen and a new menu.

For a chef, an address like this changes two things. The guests care, so the cooking is held to a standard worth cooking to. And "Aqua Dining, opening brigade" is a line on your CV that every Sydney head chef reads properly.

That is SRG's line, and it is meant both ways — the mark we leave on guests, and the one this group leaves on the chefs who come through it.

Bill and Kathleen Drakopoulos opened Aqua in 2000. Everything else came after. Twenty-six years on, SRG is fifteen venues growing to twenty within six months - Ripples, Sails, The Nielsen, The Fenwick, Ventuno, Riva, Akti, Noi, Summer Salt and the food and beverage across The Langham, Sydney.

What that means for your career:

• A ceiling worth chasing. SRG kitchens have earned Good Food Guide Chef's Hats and Restaurant & Catering Association awards for excellence. The standard here is set high enough to be worth cooking to.
• Range you cannot get in one kitchen. Fine dining, waterfront volume, Italian, hotel F&B and forty-plus event spaces — all inside one employer.
• Still family-run. Led by Bill and Kathleen's four children. The people deciding your next step know your name and your work.

APPLY

Applicants must have full working rights in Australia.

SRG Hospitality is an equal opportunity employer.

Company Overview

SRG Hospitality is a premium hospitality group behind some of Sydney’s most iconic dining, event, and lifestyle venues. Built on exceptional food, thoughtful service, and strong leadership, SRG creates hospitality experiences that feel personal, generous, and distinctly human. With a growing portfolio across Sydney and plans to expand from 12 to 17 venues by 2026, SRG Hospitality combines culinary excellence, operational discipline, and creative ambition at scale. From front of house and back of house to head office and leadership, we invest in our people, back our leaders, and build careers alongside the business. SRG Hospitality is where elevated hospitality meets long-term opportunity.