Production Kitchen Lead (CPU)

The Kitchen Lead role is a hands-on position that leads by example, suited to someone with a genuine passion for quality, consistency, and great food. Based across our production kitchens, you will play a key role in overseeing the production of best-in-class savoury breakfast and lunch items for our Houses, ensuring every item is produced and presented with care, precision, and attention to detail. You will be fully involved in daily operations, managing a high-performing team to maintain exceptional product quality, consistency, and efficiency across all production lines. Alongside this, you will uphold high storage, dispatch, cleanliness, and food safety standards, while fostering a positive, engaged team culture built on honesty, empathy, and accountability. Directly reports to our Head of Food.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and hold the kitchen team to account throughout your shift.
• Ensure all shifts are opened and closed to the correct standards.
• Perform daily checks accurately and record them in Trail.
• Create weekly shift rotas and obtain approval from the Bakery Manager.
• Ensure each shift’s volume is prepared and packed fully and on time.
• Resolve production issues and optimise workflow and labour usage.
• Supervise health and food safety, ensuring full compliance with WatchHouse’s operating procedures.
• Uphold product quality standards, ensuring all items are produced to the correct recipe and specification, maintaining consistency across all product lines.
• Address any product quality issues (weights, finish, etc.) within shifts and elevate as required.
• Drive food safety compliance, keeping the bakery and all processes at the highest standards of cleanliness and traceability.
• Monitor ingredient inventory, coordinate efficient and accurate stock management.
• Escalate to Kitchen Lead if ingredient stock levels are too high or too low, and support adjustments to reduce wastage.
• Manage kitchen stock, ordering items correctly through Market Man, completing weekly stock takes, and controlling stock levels.
• Ensure all team members take correct breaks, holidays, and start/finish shifts on time.
• Maintain a positive culture and engaged team, upholding standards with honesty and empathy to ensure consistent quality.

Key to this role:

• Genuine passion for food and drive to deliver best-in-class products to our Houses.
• Available 40 hours per week, any 5 days out of 7.
• Strong leadership abilities with a positive, can-do attitude.
• Level 3 Food Hygiene knowledge of HACCP and ability to implement and manage food safety practices to remain compliant.
• Interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain relationships while showing empathy to your team.
• Level 3 Health & Safety certification or successful completion by end of probation.
• Demonstrated experience leading a team in a production environment, with the ability to provide effective feedback and hold the team to account.
• Attention to detail, ensuring all product lines are consistent with the product specification.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work well at pace under pressure.