Head Chef

Head Chef (or Senior Sous Chef Ready to Step Up)

Pio Pio Restaurant – Milford Sound Lodge
Full-time | Milford Sound | Competitive Salary + Performance Incentives
Food that matters. A role that will shape your career. A place you’ll never forget.

At Pio Pio, food is at the heart of the experience.
We’re passionate about flavour, quality and creativity. Our kitchen celebrates local
ingredients, bold flavours, thoughtful technique, and food that tells a story about place -
creating dining moments our guests remember long after they leave. All delivered through a
professional, sustainable, and industry-leading operation.
Now we’re looking for a Head Chef (or an ambitious Senior Sous Chef ready to step up)
who shares that passion. Someone who genuinely loves food, cares deeply about what goes
on the plate, and wants to grow into a confident, well-rounded kitchen leader.
This role is based at Milford Sound Lodge, in one of the most extraordinary environments
in the world. Pio Pio is an intimate, lodge restaurant serving around 60 guests each night -
giving you the rare opportunity to cook at a high level, be creative, and take real pride in the
dining experience you help create.

About Pio Pio & Our Food
Our food philosophy is grounded in:
 Seasonal, local New Zealand produce
 Hand-crafted elements and full-flavoured cooking
 Thoughtful, beautifully considered dishes that spark conversation
 A balance of creativity, refinement, and consistency
We’re proud of our food. We care about flavour, technique, and experience. We want guests
to leave talking about what they ate, not just where they stayed.
Our ambition is to become New Zealand’s best remote restaurant - known not just for
location, but for exceptional food, strong leadership, and a great team culture.

The Opportunity
This role is open to:
 An experienced Head Chef, or
 A Senior Sous Chef ready to take their first step into a Head Chef role
What matters most is not your title — it’s your love of food, your curiosity, your leadership
potential, and your desire to grow.
You’ll be supported to:

 Develop your own leadership style
 Build confidence running a kitchen
 Learn how to balance creativity with consistency - including the commercial and
operational realities that underpin a successful restaurant
 Grow into a Head Chef who is both inspiring and commercially strong

Professional Development & Mentoring
Milford Sound Lodge is genuinely committed to developing great hospitality leaders.
In this role, you’ll be supported through:
 A high-quality external mentoring programme
 Regular coaching and development conversations
 Leadership training and real-time feedback
 Ongoing learning as the business evolves
This is a rare chance to be mentored properly as a Head Chef - not just thrown in the deep
end.

What You’ll Be Doing
Food & Creativity
 Leading menu development and seasonal changes
 Creating food that reflects place, produce, and personality
 Maintaining high standards of flavour, presentation, and consistency
 Inspiring your team to care about quality and craft
Leadership & Team
 Leading the kitchen with calm, respect, and professionalism
 Coaching and mentoring your team
 Creating a positive, supportive environment where people grow
Kitchen Management (the structure behind the scenes)
 Managing COGs, ordering, and rosters
 Keeping recipes and processes documented
 Using systems to create clarity, not control - ensuring the kitchen is both creatively
fulfilling and commercially sustainable
 Improving how the kitchen runs month by month
(We believe good systems should protect creativity, not replace it.)

About You
This role will suit you if you are:
 Passionate about great food and great produce
 A talented, creative chef who’s curious and excited to keep learning
 Either already leading, or ready to step into leadership
 Calm, positive, and people-focused
 Willing to mentor and support the people around you
 Interested in growing into a well-rounded, systems-led Head Chef, not just a
technician
You might be early in your leadership journey - that’s absolutely welcome here.

Living & Working in Milford Sound
You’ll live and work in one of the most spectacular places on earth:
 Surrounded by mountains, rivers, and rainforest
 A one-minute walk to work
 Heavily subsidised accommodation ($25 p/day, pay when you stay)
 8 days on / 6 days off roster
 A close-knit team and a lifestyle most chefs only dream about
This is a place that resets your relationship with hospitality.

Why This Role Is Special
 Food-led, with strong professional standards
 Real mentoring and leadership development
 Creative freedom within a supportive structure
 A chance to step into leadership with genuine backing
 A once-in-a-lifetime location
 A kitchen where great chefs become great leaders

Ready to Apply?
If you love food, care about quality, and want to grow into a Head Chef role in a place that
genuinely supports your development — we’d love to hear from you.
Apply with your CV and a short cover letter telling us:
 What excites you about food

 Where you’re at in your career
 Why Pio Pio feels like the right next step