Head Chef

Mitie Cleaning & Hygiene Services; Buxton; On-site; GBP 34,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Virtual GP

Salary Finance

Five extra holidays

Job summary

Mitie Cleaning & Hygiene Services is seeking an experienced Head Chef to lead the catering operation for staff, guests, and visitors at HSE Buxton – Derbyshire. You will oversee food preparation, hospitality services, compliance, stock management, and team leadership to deliver exceptional food and service.

The role requires leading a team, maintaining high standards, and managing Budgets with strong IT and organizational skills. Excellent customer focus and a passion for quality are essential.

Qualifications

• Essential catering or hospitality qualification.
• Level 3 Food Hygiene qualification.
• Allergen Awareness certification.
• Experience leading teams in a large catering operation.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all aspects of catering operation, including food prep and hospitality services.
• Ensure compliance with food hygiene, health & safety, HACCP and allergen management.
• Manage stock control, orders, deliveries, storage, and waste reduction.
• Lead, develop and support catering and cleaning teams through supervision and training.
• Drive improvements through menu development, engagement, and best practices.

Skills

Leadership

Food hygiene level 3

Allergen awareness

Budget management

IT skills

Food preparation

Education

Relevant catering or hospitality qualification

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Better places, thriving communities.

Better places, thriving communities. Join Mitie – the future of high-performing places.

Location: HSE Buxton – Derbyshire

Contract: Full-time

Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 4:00pm (No weekends or Bank Holidays)

At Mitie, our people are our greatest strength. We are committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive, reach their full potential, and be their best every day.

We are looking for an experienced Head Chef to lead the delivery of catering services for staff, guests, and visitors. This is an excellent opportunity for a passionate and customer-focused catering professional who enjoys leading teams, maintaining high standards, and delivering exceptional food and service.

About The Role

As Head Chef, you will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the catering operation, including food preparation, hospitality services, compliance, stock management, and team leadership. You will play a key role in ensuring the highest standards of food quality, presentation, hygiene, and customer satisfaction while maintaining effective control of budgets and resources.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare, cook, and present high-quality meals and hospitality offerings, ensuring exceptional food standards and customer satisfaction.
• Maintain compliance with food hygiene, health & safety, HACCP, allergen management, and company policies, ensuring accurate records and audit readiness.
• Manage stock control, ordering, deliveries, storage, stock takes, waste reduction, and budget performance to maximise efficiency and control costs.
• Lead, develop, and support catering and cleaning teams through effective supervision, training, scheduling, and performance management.
• Drive continuous improvement through menu development, customer engagement, service enhancements, reporting, and operational best practice.

What You'll Bring

Essential

• Relevant catering or hospitality qualification.
• Level 3 Food Hygiene qualification.
• Allergen Awareness certification.
• Previous experience within a catering operation in a large organisation.
• Experience leading, motivating, and developing teams.
• Strong IT skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Experience managing budgets, forecasting expenditure, and monitoring financial performance.
• Excellent organisational and problem-solving skills with the ability to work independently and meet deadlines.

Desirable

• IOSH Managing Safely or equivalent qualification.
• Level 2 HACCP qualification.
• COSHH knowledge and experience.
• Good understanding of Health & Safety legislation, risk assessments, and safe systems of work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Full UK driving licence due to location requirements.

What We’re Looking For

We’re Looking For Someone Who Is

• Passionate about delivering high-quality catering and customer service.
• A strong leader with the ability to inspire and develop a high-performing team.
• Calm, professional, and able to work effectively under pressure.
• Highly organised, proactive, and focused on continuous improvement.
• Flexible, reliable, and committed to maintaining the highest standards.

What's in It for You?

• The opportunity to lead a well-established catering operation.
• A great work-life balance with no weekends or Bank Holidays.
• A supportive environment focused on development and continuous improvement.
• The chance to make a real impact within a leading Facilities Management organisation

Our market-leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days’ holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!

We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,000!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing Christian Kalugin at [e-mail].

Since 1987, Mitie’s 84,000 employees have been maintaining companies globally. We are the UK’s leading facilities management and professional services company, and our clients range from household names in banking, critical government sites as well as hospitals and schools.

Join our Mitie Team.

Together our diversity makes us stronger.

Looking to move roles but not leaving the Mitie family? Why not share your experience with others about life at Mitie?