About the role

Working on an island, living in a castle with red squirrels at your window sounds like a fantasy but due to the wonderful and unique Brownsea Castle this could be your reality.

It’s our place by the sea, our island getaway across beautiful Poole Harbour offering an escape to our Partners with history and nature in abundance. Guests stay on the National Trust run island in the amazing Tudor castle, set amongst 17 acres of private grounds with stunning Italian gardens and a dedicated beach offering relaxation and beautiful nature walks.

If you are looking for a hotel with a difference, this could be it. You’ll be surrounded by a team of passionate and dedicated hospitality Partners who give our guests the best experience possible. What is different about our guests though is that they are Partners with their friends and family.

As co-owners in the business, you’ll see this difference in the way your teammates and you approach your job and carry out your responsibilities. With all of the island to explore or using any of the facilities on offer; a croquet lawn, children's play area, badminton, football, cricket, fishing, archery and frisbee golf you can guarantee that our guests will be hungry and looking to recharge with the fantastic food offering we give them.

Boats: We have our own private boat service from Poole Quay and Salterns Marina to get Partners to and from work, these boats run approximately once an hour between 7am - 11pm. Castello Boat berths in the Marina at Poole and Enterprise at Salterns .

Car parking: Parking for Poole can be found on BCP Council car park information page - https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/parking/find-a-car-park/quay-visitors-multi-storey-car-park and for Salterns marina there is on road parking on Dorset lakes road, the marina is permit parking only.

Buses: Buses from Salterns stop at 7pm and all staff are required to cover late night shifts beyond the bus times.

As a Sous-Chef at our Brownsea Castle hotel, you'll join a talented kitchen brigade dedicated to providing a first-class experience for Partners and guests. You will be a key player in preparing, presenting, and helping to develop the hotel's culinary offerings.

In addition to your contractual pay, any time worked between 22:00 - 06:00 will attract Night Premium at a rate of £4.25 per hour. This will also apply to existing Partners who have enrolled onto Enhanced Hours Premium arrangements.

Responsibilities, Skills and Experience

Salary: £30,600 - £41,700
Contract type - Permanent

Working pattern: The role requires flexibility to work varied shifts, including weekends and evenings, to support the operational needs of the business.

Location: Brownsea Castle

Working in a kitchen environment is fast-paced and can feel pressurised. Day-to-day responsibilities will include:

Assisting the Head Chef to plan, produce, and deliver the club’s food offer and agreed food presentation standards, in line with current trends and customer demand.
Taking responsibility for the kitchen in the Head Chef's absence.
Leading the team to deliver Food safety compliance.
Using your knowledge and expertise to train and develop chefs and kitchen porters, to include all aspects of food preparation.
Developing Partners and team performance through active use of performance management and development tools.
Achieving first profit and GP targets by controlling food and pay costs and managing effective rotas.
Achieving sales targets by managing food offer availability and ensuring the front of house team is fully equipped to upsell.
Driving catering sales to meet or exceed budget and last year's performance.
Achieving and maintaining the business standard for product knowledge and expertise.
Conducting daily compliance checks, ensuring all records are up to date (e.g., temp of fridges, cleaning schedules, correct use of chemicals, PPE, H & S, and food safety policies).
Meeting all legislative requirements for the Catering environment, to include allergens.
Act in accordance with the Partnership’s purpose and democratic principles.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

Food Safety level 3.
Relevant professional chef qualifications: City & Guilds diplomas in professional cookery, BTEC HNC in professional cookery or equivalent.
Proven leadership skills.
Strong organisational and planning skills.
Commercial awareness of GP to be achieved and price point limitations.
Ability to interpret and enforce food safety Policy and health and safety regulations.
Understanding of HACCP.
Team Player.
Continue personal development to ensure skill level and food style is up to date and market trend driven.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

Skilled influencer, motivator, or coach.
Keen to develop the food offer.
Show creativity in food service.
Ability to adapt menu items to cater for individual requirements.

#JohnLewisPartnership #PartnershipHotels #SousChef #ChefJobs #HospitalityCareers #UKHospitality #KitchenManagement

The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.

Sous Chef

Poole - Brownsea Island
04/07/2026
£30,600.00 - £41,700.00 Annual
Permanent
40
Partnership Level 9

John Lewis Partnership

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