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Lead
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We're looking for an experienced and passionate chef who thrives on responsibility, takes pride in cooking from scratch, and enjoys working in an exceptional environment. This is an opportunity to play a key role in delivering memorable dining experiences while living and working in one of Scotland's most remarkable locations. There is a stretch of water between this kitchen and the nearest wholesaler. Some mornings the boat runs, some mornings the weather decides otherwise, and either way service happens.
Tanera Mòr is the only inhabited island in the Summer Isles, a place being slowly restored, and the food here is part of that work: cooked from scratch, shaped by the season, served to people who have travelled a long way to sit down at the table. This is not a job for someone looking to hold a station and go home. It is for a chef who wants the whole thing in their hands.
Working closely with the Head Chef, you will help shape and deliver the Tanera food vision across multiple sites. When the Head Chef is off-site, you will take full ownership of kitchen operations, leading service with confidence and maintaining the highest standards of food quality, organisation and professionalism.
You will work closely with the Head Chef to shape and deliver the Tanera food vision across our sites, and contribute to menus, recipes and new dishes. When the Head Chef is off the island, the kitchen is yours. That means directing prep, delegating well, supervising every station, holding the standard, and keeping ordering, stock and inventory in order.
It also means the things that do not appear on a plate. Keeping a clean, organised workspace as a matter of instinct. Working flexibly across sites and feeling confident stepping out of the kitchen to talk to our teams, guests, visitors and volunteers; because on Tanera the person who cooked the food is not a stranger but a part of the experience.
Proven experience in a professional kitchen, and a strong grounding in classical cooking. You have delivered high volume without compromising quality, and you can take full ownership of a service without waiting to be told. You are calm under pressure, meticulous about cleanliness and presentation, and organised to the point that it looks effortless. Beyond the technical, you care about seasonal ingredients and scratch cooking in a way that is genuine rather than performed. You are a natural leader who takes real pleasure in developing other people. A full UK driving licence is essential.
A competitive salary and a discretionary bonus. Staff accommodation may be available. Meals are provided during shifts. There is a company pension and private medical insurance. Alongside that, something harder to list: a kitchen where your judgement matters, produce worth cooking, and an island that gives back more than it asks, in its own time.
Forty hours a week, including weekends, with flexible shifts based on what operations require. The island sets the pace as much as the rota does.
We post openings regularly as the project expands. Check back in with us here, or sign up to our volunteering network to find other ways to get involved on Tanera.
Check out our volunteering opportunities here