Find & Apply For Chef Jobs in SeaTac, Washington

Executive Chef Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center | SeaTac, WA Full-Time | Salaried Exempt Reports to: Director of Food & Beverage About the Role Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center is seeking an experienced, hands-on Executive Chef to lead our culinary and stewarding operations across a dynamic, high-volume hotel and conference center environment. This is a senior culinary leadership role responsible for the overall direction, quality, consistency, financial performance, and development of our culinary operation. The Executive Chef oversees food production and culinary execution for Spencer's Restaurant, lounge operations, banquet and catering functions, conference center events, airline crew meal programs, and our team member cafeteria program. Reporting to the Director of Food & Beverage, this role partners closely with Sales, Catering, Conference Services, and Human Resources to deliver consistent execution in a high-volume, multi-outlet hotel environment while cultivating a culture of teamwork, accountability, and professional development within a union workforce. Our culinary and stewarding teams include union-represented team members, making experience successfully leading within a union environment particularly valuable. What You'll Lead The Executive Chef provides leadership and direction to: 2 Sous Chefs 2 Culinary Supervisors Line, prep, and banquet cooks Stewarding operations Culinary purchasing, receiving, and inventory functions What You'll Do Culinary Leadership & Guest Experience Lead culinary operations across all hotel food and beverage outlets, banquet functions, catering events, conference center operations, airline crew meal programs, and the team member cafeteria. Ensure consistently high standards for food quality, taste, presentation, portioning, sanitation, and overall guest experience. Lead menu strategy, development, testing, implementation, and recipe standardization for restaurant, lounge, banquet, catering, and special-event offerings. Develop creative, relevant, and operationally executable menus while balancing guest expectations, culinary trends, product availability, and financial performance. Build and cost airline crew meal cycles that meet contractual specifications, delivery requirements, quality standards, and established cost targets. Partner with Sales and Catering on custom menus, client tastings, site visits, BEO execution, and pre-conference planning. Maintain a visible, hands-on presence throughout culinary operations and support production and service during peak periods when needed. People Leadership & Development Recruit, train, coach, develop, and lead culinary and stewarding team members. Provide direct leadership and development to Sous Chefs and Culinary Supervisors, creating clear accountability and a strong succession pipeline. Conduct regular leadership meetings, one-on-ones, coaching conversations, and performance discussions. Ensure kitchen leaders conduct effective pre-shift meetings and service lineups that communicate business levels, menu information, service expectations, safety priorities, and operational needs. Foster a professional, respectful, collaborative, and accountable kitchen culture. Partner closely with Human Resources and the Director of Food & Beverage on employee relations, performance management, scheduling, staffing, and other people-related matters. Support the consistent administration of applicable collective bargaining agreement requirements in partnership with Human Resources and F&B leadership. Financial & Operational Performance Maintain accountability for food cost, labor cost, productivity, purchasing, inventory, and overall culinary financial performance. Develop staffing schedules based on business forecasts, occupancy, outlet demand, banquet activity, airline crew requirements, and the group calendar. Manage culinary labor to established productivity standards and budget expectations while maintaining appropriate operational coverage. Monitor product mix, menu profitability, recipe costing, portion standards, purchasing trends, and waste reduction opportunities. Maintain appropriate inventory levels through disciplined ordering, receiving, storage, rotation, and vendor management. Ensure timely and accurate completion of inventories, recipe costing, purchasing documentation, and month-end reporting. Participate in budgeting, forecasting, and P&L review with the Director of Food & Beverage. Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce waste, strengthen productivity, and enhance culinary profitability without compromising quality. Food Safety, Sanitation & Compliance Maintain exceptional sanitation and food safety standards throughout all kitchens, storage areas, refrigeration, receiving areas, and stewarding operations. Ensure compliance with applicable Washington State and Public Health - Seattle & King County food safety requirements, workplace safety requirements, and Hilton brand standards. Establish and maintain master cleaning, sanitation, and preventative maintenance schedules for culinary and stewarding areas. Ensure required food safety, temperature, cleaning, sanitation, and other operational logs are completed accurately and consistently. Ensure proper handling, storage, labeling, rotation, and temperature control of food products. Maintain appropriate safety documentation, including SDS information and required safety records. Promote safe work practices related to commercial kitchen equipment, knives and cutting equipment, chemicals, burns, slips and falls, lifting, and other kitchen-related hazards. Promptly identify and escalate workplace injuries, safety concerns, food safety issues, equipment concerns, and other compliance matters in accordance with Company procedures. What We're Looking For Experience & Education Culinary Arts, Food Production, Hotel & Restaurant Management degree, or comparable culinary education preferred. Minimum of 8 years of progressive culinary experience, including at least 3 years in an Executive Chef, Executive Sous Chef, Chef de Cuisine, or comparable senior culinary leadership role. Previous hotel, resort, conference center, or similarly complex multi-outlet culinary experience strongly preferred. Significant banquet and high-volume catering experience required. Demonstrated experience executing multiple simultaneous events and food production demands. Experience leading culinary teams in a union environment strongly preferred. Hilton or other major full-service hotel brand experience preferred. Skills & Qualifications Strong culinary knowledge with demonstrated success leading high-volume, multi-outlet operations. Proven accountability for food cost, labor cost, inventory, purchasing, productivity, and budget performance. Strong menu-development, recipe-costing, and product-mix management skills. Demonstrated ability to recruit, coach, develop, and retain culinary talent. Strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment with competing operational demands. Collaborative leadership style with strong communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Working knowledge of commercial kitchen equipment, sanitation standards, food safety practices, and applicable health regulations. Current Washington State Food Worker Card required, or ability to obtain within the required timeframe. Manager-level food safety certification required, or ability to obtain within the timeframe established by the Company and applicable regulatory requirements. Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Teams, along with recipe-costing, inventory, purchasing, BEO/catering, sales reporting, and related hotel systems. Ability to interpret operating reports, forecasts, budgets, and P&L statements. Schedule & Work Environment Hospitality doesn't always operate on a traditional Monday-through-Friday schedule, and this role requires flexibility to be present when the business needs its culinary leader most. The Executive Chef must be available to work a flexible schedule that may include early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, banquet periods, and other high-volume business periods. This is an active, hands-on culinary leadership position. The Executive Chef regularly works in commercial kitchens, banquet production areas, storage and receiving areas, walk-in refrigeration, and other food-and-beverage environments. The position requires prolonged standing and walking and frequent bending, reaching, pushing, pulling, and movement of food products, supplies, and equipment. The role may require lifting or moving items weighing up to 50 pounds. The Executive Chef regularly works around hot cooking equipment, sharp utensils, steam, refrigeration, cleaning products, wet or slippery surfaces, and varying temperatures. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of the position, as required by applicable law. Why Join Us? This is an opportunity to lead a complex culinary operation with significant variety and visibility. From restaurant service and large-scale banquets to custom catering, conference events, and specialized airline crew meal programs, no two days are exactly the same. We're looking for a culinary leader who enjoys building strong teams, developing future leaders, creating memorable food experiences, and bringing structure, accountability, and creativity to a busy operation. If you're a hands-on Executive Chef who can move comfortably between the kitchen, a client tasting, a BEO meeting, a P&L discussion, and coaching the next generation of culinary leaders, we'd love to hear from you. Equal Employment Opportunity Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees and prohibit unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in accordance with applicable federal, Washington State, and local law. Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities and for other needs protected by applicable law. Applicants requiring an accommodation during the application or interview process may contact Human Resources.

Pay:

$115,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) 401(k) matching Dental insurance Flexible schedule Food provided Health insurance Paid time off Retirement plan Vision insurance

Work Location:

In person