Deputy Head Chef in Manchester

Do you want to help lead an innovative Catering Team within one of Europe’s leading cancer centres?

We have a rare opportunity to join The Christie as Deputy Head Chef. Working alongside the Executive Head Chef, you will help lead day‑to‑day kitchen operations, ensuring consistently high standards of food quality, safety, and service for patients, staff, and visitors.

This is a hands‑on leadership role that combines food production with people management, training, menu planning, stock control, dietary and allergen management, compliance, and service improvement. You will deputise for the Executive Head Chef when required and help create a positive, well‑organised kitchen where high standards, teamwork and compassionate customer service are at the heart of everything we do.

If you are an experienced catering professional with strong leadership skills, sound food‑safety knowledge and a passion for fresh food, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

What will you be doing:

• Supporting the Executive Head Chef in running the kitchen and deputising in their absence.
• Leading, allocating and supervising kitchen staff, including rotas, induction, training and appraisal.
• Ensuring high standards of food preparation, presentation, hygiene, HACCP and due diligence.
• Planning menus, ordering provisions, controlling stock and helping reduce food waste.
• Managing therapeutic, special and ethnic diets, allergens and patient‑specific requests.
• Liaising with wards, Dietetics, Estates and other teams, and responding to complaints and incidents.
• Supporting audits, inspections, catering policies and continuous service improvement.

Qualifications and skills:

• City & Guilds/NVQ Level 1 and 2 in Catering Services or equivalent.
• Supervisory experience in large‑scale catering and awareness of budgetary control.
• Strong leadership, communication, organisational, staff‑management and IT skills.
• Knowledge of food‑safety legislation, HACCP Level 4 principles, COSHH and specialist diets.
• Knowledge of NHS Standard Recipes desirable.

Working for our organisation

You will be joining a fast‑paced Catering Department where food quality, patient experience, safety and teamwork matter every day. The Deputy Head Chef is a key operational leader, working closely with the Executive Head Chef and wider Catering management team to support staff, maintain standards and continuously improve the service.

We are looking for someone who is approachable, organised and confident leading others; someone who can make sound decisions under pressure, communicate well with patients and colleagues, and role‑model The Christie values and behaviours.

What’s in it for you?

• Band 4: £28,392 - £31,157 per annum
• Full‑time: 37.5 Hours per week (5 days out of 7)
• Shift Patterns within the hours of: 07:00 - 19:00 (with the exception of events).
• 27 days annual leave per year - pro rata, rising to 29 days after 5 years’ service - pro rata
• Fun, friendly, and caring working environment
• Unrivalled individual training and development with apprenticeship opportunities
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Cycle to work scheme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Allocate duties to all kitchen staff on a daily basis following an assessment of competence

To liaise with ward staff regarding menu changes and individual dietary information details for patients

To work closely with the other Catering Supervisors and to attend meetings asrequired with ward and departmental staff on behalf of the Catering Department

It is essential that the post holder has knowledge of the procedures and practices relating to the management and provision of food services. This must include knowledge of HACCP, COSHH and Health and Safety

Management training, to Advanced Food Hygiene standard required in order to process theoretical and professional knowledge gained through specialised courses and experience

To carry out menu planning with full knowledge of standard recipes and food production in large scale catering operations

Must have thorough knowledge of therapeutic diets acquired through training and experience

To audit and identify the training needs of the kitchen staff, and support staff to undertake a variety of duties to continually enhance their skills

Responsible to complete departmental induction and training programme for new kitchen staff

Participate in any online training facilities

To audit and review the temperature recording procedures in the Catering department in line with the H.A.C.C.P Day to day operation of the electronicMONIKA task minder system

To be responsible for the maintenance of all due diligence records

Completion of rota’s to ensure sufficient staff is on duty at all times

Ensure that there are sufficient provisions available to provide the service for patients, staff and visitors

To keep the food wastage percentages to a minimum and carry out regular waste surveys at ward level to identify areas where actions could be taken to reduce food waste

Organise and plan specialist food training programmes for specific staff

Manage catering and food production documentation in line with the trust policy and follow operational catering policy and procedures related to the storage and retention of records

Maintain records of catering complaints, incidents, and ward visits to provide reports for the senior catering manager monthly

Liaise with the Executive Head Chef to plan for any building work and new equipment/ software upgrades in the kitchen area

Liaise with the estates department to process any maintenance requirements regarding the catering department

Develop skills with experience for manipulation of tools i.e. knives and equipment where margins of error are narrow

To prepare food to meet deadlines where accuracy is essential

Physical skills are required for managing deliveries of stock

You will provide nutritional, attractive, and palatable meals to hospital patients, staff and visitors and adopt responsibility at all times for the quality and outcome of each dish

Carry out regular ward visits to monitor all aspects of the patient food service

Assist all patients, staff, and visitors regarding the catering and food preparation and ward service

You will be available to see individual patients on request to address queries or concerns and be ready to provide alternatives to the menu as necessary

Liaise with ward staff; and ensure process is in place to identify any specific needs

Maintain the Allergen matrix for all meals provided to the patients, staff and visitors and liaise with all staff if any changes to the recipes

Work with the front of house manager to develop ideas for income generation within the catering department and look at the effects that this may have on other departments

Implement policies/procedures to staff on all aspects of food purchase, storage, and production, which will impact beyond own work area

Implementing and monitoring the HACCP policy, addressing any controls and constraints and identify actions required

To implement all recommendations of external bodies i.e., EHO inspector to meet the agreed standards

Implement policies for the catering department and legislative changes relating to all aspects of food purchase, storage, production and service

Use complaints, incidents and comments positively to learn from issues and provide feedback to improve services

Operate in line with the current catering policy; contribute to developing, reviewing, and updating the policy

To maintain good housekeeping procedures, stock rotation of all provisions in fridges and freezers

To draw up requisitions for all provision required on day to day basis

To liaise with the Stores Person to ensure that the required standards are met for all provisions and delivery

Report any defects of building or equipment immediately to Management

To manage all the kitchen staff, cover holidays, sickness and other leave and allocate overtime where necessary. Draw up weekly rotas for shift changes etc

Participate in the recruitment process, shortlist candidates carry out selection interviews

Carry out annual PDP/appraisal meetings with assigned staff

To hold team meetings, agree development targets and monitor targets. Ensure that all meetings are recorded for attendance and content

Carry out return to work interviews when kitchen staff return from sickness absence and complete all relevant paperwork

Responsible for dealing with staffing issues informally e.g. counselling for grievances, poor performance etc and keeping documented evidence for issues

Ensure electronic records (where they apply) are maintained for all related aspects of responsibility

Keep a record of all staff meetings, allergen work, ,ward visits, training and associated documents on the catering drive for evidence

Competent in use of MANNA Stock System, entering data and pulingl off reports

To maintain the Monika refrigeration monitoring system / Task minder to ensure that the day‑to‑day temperatures and cleaning tasks are recorded, and any non‑compliance actioned

To review and maintain Burlodge digital monitoring system and act on noncompliance

To enter data manually in event of failing IT systems, this includes all daily records for fridge, and freezers, and hot and cold food temperatures throughout the department

Support staff with E-lite training on ESR to ensure compliance with all mandatory and departmental training

Complete spread sheets for food wastage surveys and collates information accordingly

To liaise with management to continuously develop and improve the kitchen environment and food service.

To work alongside management to promote the healthy eating ethos for patients staff and visitors.

Liaise with the dietetic team on menu developments and dietary matters or requirements.

To take overall responsibility for the Catering Department in the absence of the Executive Head Chef.

Work within agreed hygiene policies and procedures.

Participate in the manual service provision of the department as necessary. This may include the preparation, cooking and service of food, delivery of trolleys to wards and departments, cleaning as required.

Responsible for putting away deliveries if and when required, ensure good stock control is in place.

Responsible for all requests made by patients, staff and visitors.

This entails constant interruption and the need to prioritise your workload in order to facilitate a smooth running of the service.

Supervise a number of different grades of staff within the catering department, responding to all stakeholders.

Full awareness is required when using knives, equipment and monitoring system.

Concentration is required on daily use of IT and software programmes

To be able to listen and address complaints as they arise.

Support staff with their personal concerns or performance related issues.

Communication with customers, whether patients, staff or visitors who could be experiencing distressing circumstances and make informed decisions as to how to solve their complaints. Immediate responses are needed and then more robust long‑term solutions.

Working conditions will include food preparation, storage areas and exposure to extreme temperatures within food storage areas

In this role you must be willing to work in other areas of the department and carry out any role that you expect staff to whether in hot conditions, cold storage and other extreme temperatures.

Occasional exposure to unpleasant working conditions is required, this may include areas where pests have been located.

Meetings, discussions, audits and surveys will take place in patient and visitor areas.

Responsible for Health and Safety of yourself and other persons who may be affected by acts and omissions at work and ensure that statutory and departmental safety regulations are adhered to.

Undertake any other duties or responsibilities commensurate with the seniority of this post as agreed with the technical manager for soft facilities.

This post is to assist the senior catering manager across the full range of their duties and to deputise for them in their absence. Close working is required to provide managerial cover across the Facilities Division.

N.B. The majority of the post’s tasks are non‑routine. This job description is not exhaustive. It may be necessary to carry out any other duties in order to provide an effective Catering Services. This could involve working within another area but would only be done after discussion with the employee.

Person specification

Qualifications

• C & Guilds or NVQ 1 and 2 in Catering Services or NVQ equivalent.
• Intermediate Food Hygiene
• Advanced Food Hygiene

Experience

• Large‑scale industrial Catering in a Supervisory capacity
• Awareness of budgetary control and financial planning
• Experience of working in a fast paced, demanding environment
• Management/Budget Skills

Skills

• Effective interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong leadership and organisational skills
• Customer Relation and Service Skills

Knowledge

• Food Safety Legislation
• H.A.C.C.P L4 Principles and their application
• Knowledge of various Diets
• COSHH
• NHS Standard Recipes

VALUES

• Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours

OTHER

• Commitment to delivery of high standard service
• Flexibility

The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants.

Sponsorship Information -We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications.Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship.You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

Pre-Employment Checks -To confirm your suitability for the role, we will carry out pre‑employment checks in line with NHS Employment Check Standards . These include:

• Identity verification
• Right to work check
• Disclosure and barring service (DBS)/Criminal record check (dependent on role, payment of this will be the applicants responsibility)
• Professional registration and/or qualification check
• Occupational health assessment
• Employment history and reference validation

All applicants external to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will be required to provide their HMRC employment history to cover the most recent three years employment. This information will used to validate employment history andreferences.

If you require sponsorship, we will assess your eligibility based on current government guidance. If the role is not eligible and you cannot demonstrate your right to work, your conditional offer may be withdrawn.

No Smoking Policy - You should be aware the Trust operates a No Smoking Policy and therefore employees are not permitted to smoke at work.

Additional Information - We want to ensure that everyone who works at the Christie or uses our services is welcomed, valued and treated with dignity and respect.The Christie values diversity and is committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and fair representation across the organisation at all levels. In support of these commitments, we particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and people with disabilities for this post. Appointment will be only on merit.

We are committed to creating a balanced and diverse workforce. As such we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Together we will foster inclusion and tackle inequity and health inequalities in cancer care.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all our activities. We have a zero‑tolerance approach to modern slavery in any of its forms, including slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, and human trafficking. We are fully committed to acting ethically and with transparency in all our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our organisation or supply chains.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.