Junior Sous Chef

Job description

Salary: Between £34,698 - £37,640 p.a. (depending on experience) plus benefits

Job type: Permanent

Hours: 39.25 hours per week over 5 days, on a shift basis covering seven days per week

St John’s College, one of the largest Colleges within the University of Cambridge, is seeking to appoint a Junior Sous Chef to assist the Executive Chef and Sous Chef in providing meals for the College and maintaining high standards of work and cleanliness within the kitchen. The successful candidate will also support and deputise for the Sous Chef by supervising shift team members, providing task-based training, and overseeing kitchen due diligence procedures and records.

You will have a recognised professional cookery qualification, an Intermediate Food Hygiene Level 3 qualification, and current knowledge of HACCP, allergens and food safety requirements. Previous experience in a high-quality catering environment is desirable. We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised chef with excellent cooking skills, strong attention to detail, a commitment to high standards, and the ability to lead and communicate effectively with both kitchen and Front of House colleagues.

The College offers a competitive benefits package including membership of a defined contributory pension scheme, 36 days’ annual leave (inclusive of Bank Holidays), access to a ‘cash plan’ healthcare scheme currently provided by Simplyhealth, free lunch, free use of an on-site Gym and free parking close to the College site, subject to availability.

Before You Apply – Please Read

To help you submit the strongest possible application, we’ve created a Candidate Information Pack that provides further information about the role and how to apply. It outlines what we’re looking for, how to structure your CV and covering letter, and tips to stand out. We strongly encourage all applicants to read this guidance before applying. You can find it here: Junior Sous Chef Candidate Pack

The closing date for the receipt of completed applications is 9:00am on Thursday, 3 September 2026. Interviews are expected to be held as and when applications come in.

Please be advised that you will receive system-generated updates regarding the status of your application after it is submitted directly through our recruitment system to the email address you provided. To ensure you receive all communications without interruption, we kindly ask that you:

• Add the following email addresses to your safe sender list

• peoplexd@accessacloud.com

• recruitment@joh.cam.ac.uk

• Regularly check your junk or spam folders, as emails may occasionally be filtered there.

Early applications are encouraged as we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we find a suitable candidate.

In applying for this role, you will provide personal data which the College will process in accordance with its data protection obligations and its Data Protection Policy.