Sous Chef ( D Cake Artist)

About the Role

Hire Fellows is seeking an experienced and hands-on Sous Chef, specializing as a Cake Artist, to join the production team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time role involves overseeing the daily operations of a multi-section kitchen, ensuring timely production, adherence to quality standards, and compliance with food safety regulations. The Sous Chef will manage the kitchen floor, lead the team, and optimize resource utilization.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee daily operations across all kitchen and production sections, including cake artistry, decorating, baking, chocolate, and stewarding.
• Manage daily production plans to ensure accurate and on-time order completion.
• Monitor recipe adherence and finished-product quality against established standards.
• Identify and resolve quality issues before products are dispatched.
• Coordinate with Procurement and Inventory teams to manage kitchen inventory, minimizing stockouts and waste.
• Develop 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 within the kitchen team and collaborate with HR on onboarding and employee development.
• Enforce food safety, hygiene, sanitation, and HACCP standards across the facility, working closely with the QC team.
• Manage escalations related to design, product quality, rework, and delivery timelines, making decisions on product release.
• Monitor and report kitchen performance, including production output, quality, and on-time completion.
• Manage key kitchen cost drivers such as 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.
• Collaborate 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.

Qualifications and Experience

• 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 attention to 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.

Required Skills

• 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.

Work Environment

This role operates in a fast-paced, high-volume production environment. A hands-on leadership style is essential, with a willingness to be actively involved in day-to-day kitchen operations.