- Executive pastry chef role — Lead, mentor and inspire the team pastry professionals
- Balance artisan techniques with efficient processes
- Drive creative excellence and maintain Sonoma’s high standards
The Heart of the Role: Quality at Scale
At its core, this role is about one thing: maintaining exceptional artisan quality while scaling production. We’re working exclusively with Sonoma Bakery, one of Australia’s most respected artisan bakeries, to find a rare talent – an Executive Pastry Chef who can drive both creative excellence AND production efficiency.
The ideal candidate will seamlessly blend artisanal craftsmanship with large-scale production, guiding their pastry team into an exciting new phase of growth.
About Sonoma
With a 20+ year legacy of excellence, they’ve achieved what many thought impossible – scaling artisan pastry production without compromising quality. Their journey speaks volumes:
- A modern production facility in Alexandria, purpose-built in 2022
- A stable, passionate team with many staff celebrating 10+ years with the company
- Strong plans for interstate expansion as well as potential for international growth on the horizon
The Kitchen & Team
You will be joining a thriving and well-established operation.
- A state-of-the-art production kitchen built in 2022
- Semi-automated equipment, where the quality can be maintained or improved at scale
- A capable team of 60+ pastry professionals
- High-profile wholesale accounts
- Both retail and wholesale channels
Three Key Priorities
As the Executive Pastry Chef, reporting to the Head of Bakery Operations, your primary focus will be on these key areas:
1. QUALITY LEADERSHIP
- Drive creative excellence and maintain Sonoma’s high standards
- Develop innovative products that can be consistently executed
- Research trends and source ingredients that elevate the pastry offering
2. PRODUCTION SCALING
- Transform creative concepts into commercially viable, high-volume products
- Balance artisan techniques with efficient processes
- Work with semi-automated systems while preserving handcrafted quality
3. TEAM DEVELOPMENT
- Lead, mentor and inspire the team pastry professionals
- Build a culture that values both precision and productivity
- Train staff across multiple locations as the business expands interstate
Additional responsibilities include:
- Managing recipe costings and labour budgets
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams (Sales, QA, Marketing)
- Identifying equipment improvements and production efficiencies
The Ideal Candidate
Must-Have Experience:
- Leadership in high-volume pastry production environments
- Technical expertise in viennoiserie, laminated doughs, and patisserie
- Experience managing teams of 25+ pastry professionals in a 24/7 operation
- Familiarity with semi-automated production while maintaining quality
- Strong creative capability and passion for excellence
- Recipe creation, costing, and commercial awareness
- Understanding of HACCP and food safety principles
Nice-to-Have Skills:
- International pastry experience (especially USA, France, UK, Singapore, Japan, or Germany)
- Experience in premium hotels, luxury retail, or quality bakery chains
- Familiarity with both fresh and frozen (baked and raw) production
- Experience managing multiple team leaders and up to 80 staff
- Wholesale account management experience
- Product development expertise
Why This Role Is Rare
It’s fair to say that generally, Pastry Chefs / Bakers fall into two camps – there’s either quality or quantity.
We’re trying to find a “unicorn” that can do both.
This perfectly captures what makes this role unique. You won’t just be creating beautiful pastries OR managing large production runs – you’ll be doing both simultaneously.
You must be equally passionate about perfecting a lamination technique and optimising a production line.
The outgoing Executive Pastry Chef (headhunted after 7+ years with Sonoma to an international role) exemplified this dual expertise, bringing hotel precision and US bakery scale experience. Their legacy is a pastry operation that has grown tenfold while maintaining artisan quality – now it’s your turn to take it to the next level.
Why You’ll Love Working at Sonoma
- Very strong salary package
- Work with a top-tier artisan bakery that genuinely values quality and creativity
- Join at an exciting growth phase with interstate expansion plans
- Relocation assistance available for outstanding interstate or international candidates
- Modern, well-equipped production facility
- Opportunity to shape the future of one of Australia’s most respected bakery operations
- Long-term stability with a company known for staff retention
Is This You?
Ask yourself:
- Can you maintain unwavering quality standards while producing thousands of units daily?
- Do you have both the creative vision of a master pastry chef and a production manager’s
operational mindset? - Are you equally comfortable perfecting a signature pastry and optimising a production line?
- Can you inspire a team to care deeply about both craftsmanship and efficiency?
You might be the unicorn we’re searching for if you answered yes to these questions.
Ready to Rise to the Challenge?
Placed Recruitment has been exclusively engaged to find Sonoma’s next Executive Pastry Chef. Contact us directly for a confidential discussion about this career-defining opportunity.
Visa sponsorship is available for exceptional international candidates.
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