Senior Culinary Manager

Overview

Future Chefs (futurechefs.net) prepare Boston high school students to complete high school ready for quality employment and post-secondary education. With a focus on positive youth development, Future Chefs provides authentic work-based learning in a kitchen setting to prepare teens with the basic cooking skills needed to enter the culinary industry and most importantly the job readiness and essential skills to succeed in any field.

Future Chefs believe that every young person is unique and flourishes in respectful, safe, stimulating settings that provide opportunities for growth, and relationships with caring, supportive adults who honor students lived experiences. Future Chefs occupies 5,770 square feet of meeting, kitchen, and office space on the first floor of The Clarion in Roxbury. Our youth-centered programming also includes community-based collaborations that directly and indirectly support our mission. Future Chefs is a fiscally sponsored organization of Third Sector New England, Inc. (tsne.org).

 

Who You Are

You are an enthusiastic, experienced culinary professional with a desire to share your broad culinary knowledge and passion for cooking in a community-based, after-school, and out-of-school setting. You bring creativity, technical expertise, and vision to menu development, catering, and event production, with the ability to deliver high-quality food at scale while designing menus that are engaging, culturally responsive, and aligned with program goals. You take pride in producing excellent food that reflects professionalism, safety, and sanitation standards, and you hold yourself and others accountable to the highest level of kitchen operations.

You are equally comfortable teaching in the kitchen with youth and supporting adult staff to deliver curriculum with excellence. You want to develop the leadership and culinary knowledge of participants and adult staff. You are a passionate lifelong learner, highly organized, and committed to leading and upholding a diverse, inclusive, equitable, and welcoming culinary setting.

You understand that Future Chefs is not a traditional kitchen environment. You are excited to help shape an alternative kitchen culture—one that centers youth, values essential life and leadership skills, and intentionally contrasts with some of the industry’s norms. You believe teamwork, communication, initiative, and respect are as important as culinary technique, and you see your role as developing not just skilled cooks, but future leaders.

You are a direct and respectful communicator who seeks to develop and uphold the systems needed to support a safe, professional, productive, and welcoming working environment. You do not waste resources and work to maintain and teach the highest standards in the kitchen. You embrace excellence as you strive to instill it in others. All the work in the kitchen with our young people serves the programming goals at Future Chefs. You are a willing collaborator in achieving those goals, exude positivity, and model a healthy lifestyle.

Responsibilities

The Senior Culinary Manager (SCM) is the lead culinary professional at Future Chefs, responsible for ensuring the quality and impact of all culinary programming. This role combines hands-on teaching with youth, coaching and supporting culinary staff, and collaborating with the program team on youth-led culinary enterprises and events.

The Senior Culinary Manager supervises the Culinary Team, serving as a mentor, sounding board, and resource for program delivery. While not responsible for overall event management, the SCM ensures that all youth-led and community-facing events meet high culinary standards and reflect Future Chefs’ quality expectations. The primary focus remains curriculum delivery, youth engagement, kitchen operations, and staff development, with accountability for the culinary excellence of all programming.

Essential Job Functions

Culinary Education & Youth Development

• Directly deliver Future Chefs’ culinary curriculum to youth participants, leading hands-on instruction in the teaching kitchen.
• Actively coach and mentor young people during daily programming, modeling professional kitchen standards, teamwork, and a work-readiness mindset.
• Train, support, and observe culinary instructors to strengthen their curriculum delivery and instructional practices.
• Collaborate with Program Staff to assess youth skills, share progress updates, and reinforce coaching and career exploration goals.
• Lead field trips, workshops, and guest chef experiences that expand youth exposure to culinary careers and food traditions.

Kitchen Operations & Food Production

• Oversee daily kitchen operations in a licensed professional kitchen, ensuring compliance with health, safety, and sanitation stan