Sous Chef - Pastry

Client of Hire Fellows; Doha; On-site; QAR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Client of Hire Fellows is seeking an experienced Sous Chef to join the production team. You will oversee day-to-day kitchen operations across cake artistry, decorating, baking, chocolate, and stewarding, ensuring orders are produced on time and to quality standards.

You will lead and develop the kitchen team, manage production against order volumes, enforce food safety (HACCP), manage inventory, and optimize labor, ingredients, and waste to support peak periods and launches.

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of professional kitchen, bakery, or production experience.
• Experience managing a multi-section kitchen (bakery, confectionery, high-volume)
• Expert-level fondant and cake-craft skills
• Excellent eye for detail and product presentation
• Proven leadership in developing a multi-person kitchen team
• Strong scheduling, coaching, and performance-management abilities
• Knowledge of inventory management, food cost, wastage, and production planning
• Understanding of food safety, hygiene, sanitation, and HACCP principles
• Ability to adapt production to changing orders and tight deadlines
• Hands-on leadership style with involvement in day-to-day operations

Responsibilities

• Oversee day-to-day operations of all kitchen and production sections (cake artistry, decorating, baking, chocolate, stewarding).
• Manage daily production plans to ensure orders are completed accurately and on time.
• Monitor recipe adherence and finished-product quality against standards.
• Identify and resolve quality issues before dispatch.
• Manage kitchen inventory with Procurement and Inventory teams to minimize waste.
• Build and adjust staff schedules based on order volumes and production needs.
• Allocate workloads across sections for efficient team use.
• Lead and coach section heads on performance, quality, and productivity.
• Conduct daily production briefings on volumes, priorities and requirements.
• Identify training needs and coordinate onboarding and development with HR.
• Enforce food safety, HACCP standards across the facility.
• Collaborate with QC to maintain safety and quality.
• Own escalations related to design, quality, rework and delivery timelines.
• Monitor kitchen performance including output, quality and timeliness.
• Manage labor, ingredients and wastage against the budget; drive cost control.
• Develop capacity plans for peak periods and ensure readiness for increased volumes.
• Identify opportunities to improve workflows, layouts, and productivity.
• Be the senior decision-maker on equipment, workflow and operational changes.
• Collaborate with Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing on launches and production planning.
• Maintain a clean, organized, safe and efficient kitchen environment.

Skills

Kitchen leadership

Staff scheduling

Food safety HACCP

Cake production

Quality control

Job description

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.

Desired Candidate Profile

• 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.