Head Chef Specialty & Director of Culinary

Job description

We are looking for a Head Chef Specialty & Director of Culinary to join Andaz Lisbon by Hyatt and lead the culinary identity of our hotel, with a clear focus on Specialty restaurant, our signature modern Lusitanian dining destination.

This combined role brings together the creative, hands-on leadership of a specialty restaurant Head Chef with the wider hotel culinary responsibility of a Director of Culinary. The position is designed as a 60% specialty restaurant leadership role and 40% hotel culinary leadership role , ensuring Specialty restaurant has a strong culinary personality while all hotel food experiences remain consistent, profitable, and aligned with Hyatt standards. The role combines the specialty restaurant focus from the Head Chef position with the broader hotel culinary accountability of the Executive Chef role.

About Andaz Lisbon

Andaz Lisbon is a luxury lifestyle hotel rooted in the creative energy, layered history, and contemporary rhythm of Lisbon. Located in the heart of Baixa, the hotel invites guests and locals to discover the city through design, culture, food, music, and personal connection.

Our culinary vision is central to this experience. Through the Specialty restaurant, in-room dining, suite experiences, and curated activations, food should feel expressive, local, generous, contemporary, and full of discovery.

Role purpose

The Head Chef Specialty & Director of Culinary is responsible for leading the culinary direction, daily kitchen operations, guest experience, team development, financial performance, and food quality across Andaz Lisbon.

The primary focus is to establish Specialty restaurant as one of Lisbon's most exciting lifestyle dining destinations, while also ensuring the hotel's broader culinary operation is efficient, consistent, compliant, and commercially successful.

The role requires a chef who is highly visible in the kitchen, confident in service, creative in menu development, disciplined in cost control, and inspiring as a people leader.

Role allocation

60% — Head Chef Specialty Restaurant: Specialty Restaurant

The main focus of the role is the creative and operational leadership of Specialty Restaurant, our signature restaurant and terrace.

Key responsibilities include:

Lead Specialty restaurant as a destination restaurant with a distinct modern Lusitanian identity, inspired by Portuguese culture, Lisbon's history, local ingredients, and global influences connected to the Lusitanian world.

Create, develop, and continuously evolve seasonal menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner, terrace activations, brunch, events, and special culinary moments.

Be highly present during key service periods, leading from the kitchen, ensuring consistency, speed, taste, presentation, and guest satisfaction.

Build a restaurant culture that is creative, disciplined, warm, and connected to the Andaz lifestyle spirit.

Partner closely with the Restaurant General Manager, F&B leadership, Bar team, Marketing, PR, and Commercial teams to drive restaurant positioning, local awareness, covers, average check, repeat guests, and destination appeal.

Develop culinary activations, chef-led moments, brunch concepts, terrace programming, local producer collaborations, and seasonal experiences that attract both hotel guests and Lisbon locals.

Ensure every dish tells a story and supports the Specialty Restaurant positioning as a modern, social, contemporary, and culturally rooted restaurant.

Lead menu engineering to balance creativity with profitability, ensuring the right product mix, pricing, food cost, and guest value perception.

Drive food quality, kitchen rhythm, plate presentation, portion control, and service standards across all Specialty Restaurant meal periods.

Work with the beverage team to create food and wine pairings, cocktail pairings, upselling opportunities, and rituals that enhance the guest experience.

Build strong supplier relationships with local farmers, fishmongers, artisans, butchers, cheesemakers, bakers, and specialty producers.

Ensure Specialty Restaurant becomes known not only for good food, but for energy, atmosphere, storytelling, and a strong sense of Lisbon.

40% — Director of Culinary: Hotel-wide culinary leadership

The role also carries overall responsibility for the culinary standards and performance of Andaz Lisbon.

Key responsibilities include:

Oversee the full culinary operation of the hotel, including Specialty Restaurant, Andaz Lounge, in-room dining, suite experiences, colleague dining, amenities, events, and all kitchen production areas.

Ensure the culinary division runs efficiently in line with Hyatt brand standards, while meeting guest, colleague, and owner expectations.

Act as the hotel's Production Manager for the Food & Beverage division, ensuring all outlets operate successfully, consistently, and profitably.

Maintain consistent food preparation, presentation, quality control, hygiene, productivity, and cost discipline across all kitchen areas.

Manage food cost, purchasing, ordering, inventory, waste control, productivity, payroll awareness, and menu profitability.

Collaborate with the F&B Manager / Director, Operations leadership, Finance, Purchasing, Marketing, and Commercial teams to align culinary priorities with hotel business goals.

Lead HACCP, food safety, hygiene, sanitation, health and safety, and local regulatory compliance.

Support hotel-wide guest experience by ensuring amenities, in-room dining, VIP setups, colleague meals, and private suite experiences reflect Andaz quality and personality.

Contribute to hotel commercial outcomes by supporting group business, private dining, restaurant privatizations, media events, lifestyle activations, and special occasions.

Use guest feedback, Medallia/HySat insights, online reviews, colleague feedback, and operational results to continuously improve the culinary experience.

Represent the culinary team in leadership meetings, business reviews, operational meetings, and hotel planning discussions.

Leadership responsibilities

This role is both a creative chef role and a senior leadership role.

The successful candidate will be expected to:

Lead, coach, train, and inspire a diverse culinary and stewarding team.

Create a kitchen culture built on care, respect, discipline, curiosity, accountability, and pride.

Develop Sous Chefs, Chef de Parties, Commis Chefs, stewards, and emerging culinary talent through regular feedback, coaching, and clear standards.

Set expectations clearly and follow through consistently.

Remain calm, visible, and solutions-focused during pressure moments.

Build strong collaboration between kitchen, service, bar, purchasing, stewarding, marketing, finance, and front office teams.

Break down silos and encourage departments to work together around shared guest and business outcomes.

Create a learning culture where the team tests, learns, improves, and adapts.

Recognize great performance and address underperformance with fairness and care.

Lead by example in grooming, punctuality, preparation, communication, cleanliness, and professionalism.

Champion Hyatt values of empathy, wellbeing, respect, integrity, inclusion, and experimentation.

Key outcomes

The role will be measured on both restaurant success and hotel culinary performance.

Expected outcomes include:

Specialty Restaurant is recognized as a distinctive modern Lusitanian restaurant in Lisbon.

Guest feedback reflects strong food quality, creativity, consistency, and service partnership.

Restaurant covers, local capture, average check, and repeat visits grow progressively.

Food cost and waste are managed in line with budget and business expectations.

Kitchen productivity and manning are aligned with business volumes.

Menus are seasonal, profitable, well-executed, and commercially relevant.

HACCP, food safety, hygiene, and kitchen organization are consistently maintained.

Culinary colleagues are engaged, trained, and proud to work at Andaz Lisbon.

The culinary team contributes positively to hotel GOP, brand reputation, guest satisfaction, and owner expectations.

What we are looking for

We are looking for a chef who has both restaurant credibility and hotel leadership maturity .

The ideal candidate will have:

Current experience as Head Chef, Executive Chef, Director of Culinary, Senior Sous Chef, or a comparable senior culinary leadership role in a luxury lifestyle hotel, destination restaurant, or top-rated independent restaurant.

Strong specialty restaurant experience, ideally in a rooftop, lifestyle, modern Portuguese, Mediterranean, Spanish, global, fine casual, or Michelin-influenced environment.

A proven ability to create innovative and seasonal menus that are commercially sound and aligned with a clear restaurant concept.

Strong technical mastery of cooking, preparation, presentation, kitchen organization, and product quality.

Experience managing multiple culinary areas or supporting a wider hotel operation.

Strong financial understanding, including food cost, labor productivity, menu engineering, purchasing, inventory, pricing, and waste management.

Experience leading, training, motivating, and developing kitchen teams.

Excellent communication skills and the ability to work effectively with front-of-house, bar, commercial, marketing, finance, purchasing, and hotel leadership teams.

Strong planning and organizational skills to run a streamlined, efficient operation.

A calm and confident approach under pressure.

Strong knowledge of food safety, hygiene, sanitation, and health regulations.

Passion for Portuguese ingredients, local sourcing, cultural storytelling, and memorable hospitality.

Portuguese and English language skills are strongly preferred. Additional regional or European languages are an advantage.

Pre-opening, new concept launch, repositioning, or restaurant opening experience is an advantage.

The Andaz mindset

At Andaz, food is more than a meal. It is a way to connect guests with the place they are in.

For Andaz Lisbon, this means creating food experiences that feel rooted in Lisbon, open to the world, and alive with personality. We are looking for a chef who can balance creativity with discipline, luxury with informality, and strong leadership with genuine care.

This person should be comfortable leading from the front, cooking with purpose, developing others, and building a restaurant that guests talk about, locals return to, and colleagues feel proud to be part of.

Desired profile

Qualifications :

What we offer

Long-term career growth opportunities with Hyatt.

The opportunity to shape the culinary identity of Andaz Lisbon and Specialty Restaurant.

A motivated, connected, and creative team.

12 complimentary nights per year in Hyatt properties around the world, plus colleague rates and discounts.

A company that values empathy, wellbeing, respect, integrity, experimentation, and inclusion.

Care Connects Us at Hyatt

We open doors. We welcome you. We care.

Be part of something bigger. Make a difference in the lives of those around you. Join a company that values individuality, creativity, care, and connection. At Andaz Lisbon, you will help create a culinary experience that reflects the spirit of the city and the people who bring it to life.