Senior Sous Chef - Rydges Wellington Airport

Senior Sous Chef — Rydges Wellington Airport
Full time

About EVT

Rydges Wellington Airport is part of EVT, one of Australasia's market-leading experience creators offering careers that can take you wherever you want to go across entertainment, ventures, and travel. In a world of cookie cutter experiences, here at EVT we believe in changing the game. It's why we all call ourselves Daymakers — because each day is a chance to add the wow factor for our customers and continually grow in our own careers.

Proudly owned and operated in Australia and New Zealand, Rydges offers refreshingly local stays in city, regional and resort-style hotels. We're not just in the neighbourhood, we're part of it. Every hotel is designed for ease, connection and quality. From check-in to check-out, our local heroes bring a can-do attitude and "too easy" service. Whether it's for work or a well-earned break, our place feels like home with the charm of somewhere new. Join us to help make every moment memorable.

EVT has an endless range of roles and career paths to explore across over 140 entertainment experiences like Event Cinemas and Moonlight Cinemas, 150 award winning restaurants and bars, and 80+ hotels, including QT, Rydges, Atura, LyLo, Independent Collection and Australia's most loved year round alpine resort, Thredbo. Our ventures include a ~$2.3B property portfolio and hotel management, just to name a few. Once you're in, there's no limits on where your career could take you.

About the Role

Rydges Wellington Airport is conveniently located just moments from Wellington International Airport, offering comfortable, modern rooms and warm, local hospitality to a steady mix of business and leisure travellers. The hotel's kitchen serves the on-site restaurant and bar as well as conference and events catering, keeping the team busy and varied across breakfast, a la carte and function service. As Senior Sous Chef, you'll be second-in-charge of the kitchen, working closely with the Executive Chef to lead the team, drive menu development and maintain consistently high standards across every service.

Key Responsibilities

• Deputise for the Executive Chef, taking full responsibility for the kitchen and its output in their absence.
• Lead, coach and develop the wider kitchen team, including Sous Chefs, Chefs de Partie and junior chefs.
• Drive menu development, including recipe writing, costings and seasonal menu changes across all outlets.
• Oversee food quality, portion control and presentation standards across restaurant, bar and conference & events catering.
• Manage kitchen rostering, ensuring appropriate staffing levels across shifts and events.
• Monitor and control food and labour costs, working with the Executive Chef to meet departmental budgets.
• Maintain proper food storage, stock management and ordering procedures to minimise wastage.
• Ensure full compliance with food safety, hygiene and health and safety procedures across the kitchen.
  

What You'll Bring

• Proven experience as a Sous Chef or Senior Sous Chef, ideally within a hotel or high-volume, multi-outlet kitchen.
• Strong menu development and costing experience, with a solid understanding of seasonal and banquet-style menus.
• Demonstrated leadership skills, with experience coaching, training and managing a kitchen team.
• A strong commercial mindset, with experience managing food and labour costs to budget.
• A thorough understanding of food safety, portion control and stock management practices.
• The ambition and readiness to step up towards an Executive Chef role.

How You Work

• Owner's mindset — acts on data/feedback; ships improvements.
• Hands-on and non-hierarchical — leads from the front.
• Growth mindset — learns, shares, and levels up others.
• Resilient and solutions-focused — stays calm, moves fast.

Perks from Day One

As part of EVT, you unlock Elevate Perks from your first day. Parity for all levels — no ivory towers.

• Free airport parking.
• Staff meals provided.
• Barista-made coffee on shift.
• 50% off dining and stays across EVT hotels – QT, Rydges, Atura, LyLo and more.
• $2 movie tickets + discounts on Gold Class, Moonlight Cinema and Candy Bar.
• Seasonal perks at Thredbo.
• Rapid career growth across our hotel & entertainment network.
• Paid parental leave; community & volunteering opportunities.

Apply Now

Join Rydges Wellington Airport and become an EVT experience creator, opportunity taker, the ultimate Daymaker.

Join and make a positive impact on our people, communities, and environment every day.

Send your CV and a short cover letter. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and review applications as they come in — don't wait! We can't wait to see the places your career will go with EVT.

When you click apply, you'll be taken to our secure EVT careers portal (powered by Dayforce). This is our official system for managing applications across the EVT Group. You'll simply enter your details and answer a few quick screening questions so we can get to know you better.