Head Pastry Chef (Maternity Cover)

Set in the heart of the City, overlooking Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, Tower Bridge is the starting point for discovering London’s historic past, alongside its exhilarating present. This beautiful grade II listed building and former HQ of the Port of London Authority has 100 rooms, 41 residential apartments, a stunning ballroom, 5 meeting rooms, a destination spa, and a fantastic Food and Beverage offering including Mei Ume (Chinese/ Japanese cuisine) and Rotunda (all day dining, afternoon tea & bar).

Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge seeks an experienced Head Pastry Chef to lead our pastry operation on a 12‑month maternity cover contract.

The Role

As Head Pastry Chef, you will lead a team of approximately eight pastry chefs, responsible for delivering all pastry and dessert offerings across seven food and beverage outlets, banqueting, and other hotel outlets. Reporting to the Executive Sous Chef, you will work closely with the Executive Chef and individual Head Chefs across the hotel to ensure all pastry offerings align with the culinary vision, brand standards, and guest expectations of Four Seasons. You will balance operational excellence with creativity, consistency, and people leadership, ensuring a calm, organised, and high performing pastry team throughout the contract period.

What You Will Do

• Lead and manage the pastry team, ensuring consistent quality, presentation, and standards across all outlets.
• Oversee the creation and execution of desserts, pastries, viennoiserie, and all sweet offerings across the hotel.
• Collaborate closely with Head Chefs and senior culinary leaders to align pastry with overall menus and concepts.
• Maintain strong organisation of production, ordering, staffing, and quality control.
• Ensure all food safety, hygiene, and health and safety standards are met and upheld.
• Support training, development, and performance management of the pastry team.
• Manage food cost control, waste reduction, and stock management within pastry.
• Represent the pastry function professionally within the wider culinary leadership team.

What we are looking for

• Proven experience as a Head Pastry Chef or Senior Pastry Sous Chef within a luxury hotel or high‑end restaurant environment.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate, organise, and develop a team.
• Excellent technical pastry knowledge across desserts, chocolate, bakery, and viennoiserie.
• Experience working across multiple outlets or high‑volume operations.
• Calm, structured, and professional approach to leadership and service.
• Strong understanding of food safety, hygiene, and operational controls.
• Ability to step confidently into a fixed‑term leadership role and deliver continuity and stability.

Contract Details

• 12‑month fixed‑term maternity cover.
• Full‑time position.
• Competitive salary and benefits package aligned to senior kitchen leadership roles.

What we offer

• £66,000 annual package inclusive of base salary and service charge.

Culture and recognition

• Employee recognition programmes including monthly awards and events.
• Annual themed team events plus regular social, charitable and sporting activities.

Everyday extras

• Uniform with complimentary professional dry cleaning from day one.
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work scheme available.
• Access to Stream for greater pay flexibility and discounts.

Health and family support

• Bupa Dental Cover or Bupa Cash Plan.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.
• Access to Wellhub, providing subscriptions for gyms, fitness, mindfulness, therapy, nutrition and sleep.

Travel, Food And Lifestyle Benefits

• Up to 20 complimentary nights at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts worldwide, increasing with service, as well as heavily discounted rates at all properties.
• 50% discount across UK Four Seasons food and beverage outlets from day one for up to four guests.
• Complimentary meals while on duty in Zest, our staff cafeteria, with refreshments available throughout the day.

Time off and wellbeing

• Holiday entitlement increasing with service up to 33 days.
• Company Sick Pay, increasing with service.
• Life insurance while on duty.

Career development

• Excellent training and clearly defined career development pathways.
• Strong internal progression opportunities across London and the global Four Seasons portfolio.

Lead with confidence at Four Seasons. Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge offers the opportunity to lead a significant pastry operation within one of London’s most iconic luxury hotels, contributing meaningfully to our culinary identity while supporting the team during maternity leave.