Executive Sous Chef

The Dorchester - Kitchen - Pastry; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious hotel in the City of Westminster seeks an Executive Pastry Sous Chef. This role involves leading a high-performing pastry team, creating exquisite culinary masterpieces, and ensuring an exceptional guest experience. Ideal candidates will have prior experience and demonstrate strong leadership, creativity, and communication skills. The position offers competitive compensation, as well as extensive benefits, including training opportunities and discounts at hotel properties.

Benefits

Complimentary stays with breakfast

50% off food and beverages

Private pension scheme with 8% employer contribution

Access to training and development programs

Social events and well-being support

Qualifications

• Previous experience as an Executive Pastry Sous Chef in a similar environment.
• Strong communication skills; English is the primary language.
• Ability to lead a high-performing team in pastry operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage pastry and bakery operations.
• Train and motivate the pastry team for the best culinary experience.
• Create unique culinary masterpieces for guests.

Skills

Team leadership

Strong communication skills

Creativity

Attention to detail

Job description

Join us as an Executive Pastry Sous Chef at The Dorchester, recognised as one of ‘The Sunday Times Top 10 Best Places to Work for’ in 2024 & 2025 and ‘Hotel of the year – London’ at the 2024 AA Hospitality Awards. We continually strive to build and nurture a culture where inclusiveness is part of our DNA, reflected in our values of passion, personality, respect, working together, and creativity. We believe that a variety of perspectives enriches our culture and drives our success.

We care about your career and are known for having the absolute best people in the industry. When you join us as an Executive Pastry Sous Chef you start a unique opportunity to become celebrated as the very best in your field. You'll learn not only from your fellow Legends, but also through our award‑winning learning academy, so that you can achieve the highest standards of craft, service, and leadership and become a legend in your own story.

About the Role

Our Executive Pastry Sous Chef is the rock of our pastry operation! Executing and supporting the vision of our Executive Pastry Chef. Entrusted with caring for every detail, supporting the creativity and guiding the team in ensuring no detail is left untouched in our pastry and bakery production. Though skillfully trained, they never lose sight of their ultimate reasonability, to create lifelong memories for our guests.

What you’ll do

Your responsibilities will include:

A day in the life of our Executive Pastry Sous Chef demands high levels of energy, creativity and passion. They need consistency even though the days are never alike; and creativity to tackle daily adventures. Our pastry and bakery offers a playground for seriously creative production to impress the people that make the world turn. Listing all of the contributions that our Executive Pastry Sous Chef will accomplish would be lengthy but the list below is essential to know.

• Our Executive Pastry Sous Chef is to lead the managing of pastry and bakery operations in order to deliver the best experience across our culinary offerings at The Dorchester.
• Team leadership: Lead, train and motivate a high performing Pastry team that understands their role in delivering the very best culinary experience and refined attention to detail. Foster a positive, collaborative, and respectful culture that brings the best out of people.
• The ideal candidate is someone that enjoys delivering joy to our guests through precision and execution in everything that is produced in house. Our guest experience is something that we strive to exceed in everything that we cook, serve and create. You will be responsible for leading the creativity including one of a kind masterpieces at Cake and flowers, the artistry of our afternoon tea, show stopping amenities in our suites and much more.
• Sometimes our guests have special requests involving dietary requirements, bespoke products and even special occasions. The requests will need the support of the Executive Sous chef in order to ensure we meet the wants and needs of the operations.
• Our values of Personality, Passion, Respect, Working Together and Creativity guide us each and every day. The purpose of Executive Pastry Chef is to live their behaviours to continue to create our legacy.
• Communication is what keeps our departments running perfectly. Our Executive Pastry Chef must communicate with other departments and extended hotel team in order to ensure the alignment remains.

What you’ll bring

• Previous experience as an Executive Pastry Sous chef in a similar environment
• All of our employees are ambassadors of our Vision, Values and culture. Our Executive Pastry Chef do this with all they do.
• We encourage the unique personalities and passions of our employees, working together; as a team, a hotel and Collection.
• Our guests forge our legacy. Knowing and understanding them is our goal, valuing kindness over process.
• In a fast-moving world, we remain consistent and relevant, requiring flexibility from everyone on the team.
• Strong communication skills – English is the primary language used at The Dorchester

What you’ll get

• Complimentary Stays: Enjoy complimentary stays with breakfast at Dorchester Collection Hotels every year.
• Discounts: Get 50% off food and beverages at selected bars and restaurants within the Dorchester Collection; Friends & Family stay discounts at hotel properties; benefit from discounts at various high street and online shops.
• Employee Perks: Enroll from day 1 into our Private Pension scheme (we contribute 8% towards your pension); benefit from Seasonal ticket loan, Rental deposit scheme, private financial advice, and Eye care vouchers.
• Training and Development: Advance in your career by accessing various apprenticeships from Level 2 to Hospitality Degree Level 5. We partner with outstanding nationally recognised Apprenticeship providers.
• Social Events: Participate in vibrant social events, including a summer party, winter ball, pub quizzes, and cultural and milestone recognition celebrations.
• Referral Bonus.
• Well‑being Support: Access immediate well‑being advice because we care about our employees.

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. If you need us to do anything to support you during the recruitment process (such as adjustments to how you apply, alternative formats of information, or adjustments to the assessment process itself), please call People & Culture team on 02073 197011 or email [e-mail] so that we can discuss how we can support you through this process.

Compensation: Competitive salary