Senior Chef Manager, Leeds

Leeds City College is seeking a talented Senior Chef to join our Food Services and Catering team, playing a key role at the heart of the student experience. We are committed to creating an environment that supports a better future through positive, inspiring actions that make a real difference.

In this role, you will be responsible for preparing a variety of fresh, nutritious meals that appeal to both students and staff, while consistently delivering an excellent standard of service.

This is a hands-on position, requiring you to lead and support a team of food service assistants across two cafés, ensuring smooth day-to-day operations.

This opportunity is ideal for someone looking for a rewarding and challenging role within a supportive environment. The position offers a great work-life balance, with Monday to Friday daytime hours and only occasional evening or weekend work.

• Manage two onsite cafés, delivering a consistently high-quality food and customer service experience
• Prepare and cook fresh, nutritious meals while developing innovative menus that meet customer needs
• Oversee budgets, purchasing, stock control, and financial processes to achieve GP targets
• Lead, train, and motivate the catering team, managing staffing matters effectively
• Ensure compliance with food safety, HACCP, and hygiene standards while supporting events and wider catering operations

• Proven experience within the catering and hospitality sector, including cooking in a commercial kitchen
• Experience managing refectory or canteen-style operations, ideally across multiple outlets
• Strong track record of producing a wide variety of food to a high standard
• Experience leading teams, with a focus on training and staff development
• Knowledge of food cost control, stock management, and GP margins
• Understanding of food hygiene systems, due diligence, and compliance requirements
• Holds a Level 2 Food Safety Certificate

The group offers a range of excellent benefits, including:

• We do not recognise submissions of unsolicited or speculative CV applications from recruitment agencies.
• We shall not be liable for any fee / commission in the event we employ a candidate that may have been submitted as an unsolicited/speculative application from an uninstructed recruitment agency.