Executive Chef

About the role

The Executive Chef will lead the culinary operations for Emirates Flight Catering, ensuring the highest standards of food quality, safety and customer experience across flights, lounges and VIP events. This senior position requires strategic oversight of menu development, cost control and team performance in a fast‑paced, high‑volume environment.

Key responsibilities

• Oversee overall food quality, customer experience and procedural compliance for all assigned culinary sections.
• Ensure all food items for flights, lounges and special segments are prepared, cooked and served in strict compliance with food safety and hygiene standards.
• Optimize manpower planning, train and motivate staff, and rotate teams to build full culinary capability.
• Guarantee timely execution of production workflows to meet flight departure times and event requirements.
• Supervise team members to adhere to culinary standards, identify non‑conformances and implement corrective actions.
• Design, review and approve menus in line with contractual requirements, ensuring creativity, feasibility and cost accuracy.
• Apply menu‑engineering principles to support revenue‑enhancement opportunities.
• Monitor food yields, labor and material usage to enhance cost efficiency and meet budget targets.
• Review operational and financial reports, conduct root‑cause analysis and implement corrective measures.
• Develop and sustain effective relationships with internal stakeholders, clients, suppliers and support functions.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management or a related culinary discipline (Master’s degree and Food Safety certification preferred).
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in high‑volume or large‑scale culinary production environments.
• Strong leadership capability with effective delegation and team‑development skills.
• Creative problem‑solving, real‑time decision‑making and an innovative mindset.
• Excellent organizational, training and communication abilities.
• Strategic thinker able to contribute to long‑term planning and revenue growth.
• High attention to detail and commitment to maintaining quality standards.