Kitchen Assistant

Job description

Salary: £27,929 p.a. plus benefits

Job type: Permanent

Hours: 39.25 hours per week

St John’s College, one of the largest Colleges within the University of Cambridge, is seeking to appoint a Kitchen Assistant to carry out cleaning duties within the pot wash, kitchen and associated areas.

Fundamental to the College ethos is the sense of community. The food and beverage offer plays an essential part in bringing College members and their guests together whether that is in the daily fare of the College buttery dining room, the experience of fine dining in Formal Halls or at College celebrations e.g. College Graduation and the May Ball or the conviviality of the College bar and the College café. In addition, events are regularly run for prospective applicants and for alumni and many involve both formal and informal dining.

Eating in the historic surrounds of the College is a special experience and St John’s is proud of its reputation as a quality dining destination. When College events permit, the fine dining facilities and events spaces are available to external customers and the College runs a significant number of dinners, receptions and conferences for other University academics and Departments and for other commercial customers.

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 (up to a specified monetary limit), 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: Kitchen Assistant Candidate Info Pack

The closing date for the receipt of completed applications is 9:00am on Wednesday, 12 August 2026.

Please be advised that you will receive system-generated updates regarding the status of your application after it 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 address 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.