The quality of your shortlist is set by the quality of your brief. Here is a template to copy, and the sections most briefs leave out.
The quality of your shortlist is set by the quality of your brief. Vague job descriptions produce vague applications, and then you spend three weeks interviewing people who were never right for the boat.
Below is a yacht chef job description you can copy and adapt, followed by notes on the parts most owners and captains leave out — which are usually the parts that decide whether the placement lasts.
Copy this, replace the bracketed sections, and delete what does not apply.
Vessel: [Length]m [year] [motor/sailing] yacht, [private use only / charter / private with limited charter].
Location: Based [port/region], cruising [itinerary and season].
Start date: [Date or “ASAP, some flexibility”].
Contract: [Permanent / seasonal / temporary], [single cover or rotational — state the pattern, e.g. 2:2].
Salary: [€X,000] per month [plus charter tips, if applicable].
Crew: [Number] crew total. [Sole chef / galley team of X].
Guests: Up to [number]. [Approximate guest weeks per year].
The role
Full responsibility for all guest and crew catering aboard. Menu planning, provisioning, galley management, food safety compliance and budget control. [Add: reporting line — to the Captain / Chief Stewardess / Purser.]
Key responsibilities
Requirements
Package
To apply: CV, food portfolio and contactable yacht references to [contact].
“55m motor yacht” tells a chef almost nothing about the workload. Twelve charter weeks with eight guests is a completely different job from a private family who use the boat six weeks a year, on the same hull.
State guest weeks, typical guest numbers and whether the season is back-to-back. Chefs price the job on workload, and one who accepts a role expecting light private use and finds a full charter programme will leave — usually in August, when replacing them is hardest.
This is the section owners most want to soften, and softening it is a false economy. If the owner is a strict vegan, say so. If there are twenty charter weeks, say so. If the last chef left after four months, be ready to explain why.
A chef who knows the hard parts will either want the job or will not — and you want to discover that now rather than in the middle of the season. One of the roles I placed this year was on a 37m with a strict vegan owner, stated plainly in the brief. It filled quickly, because the chefs who applied were the ones for whom that was interesting rather than a shock.
Briefs that say “salary DOE” get fewer and worse applications. Experienced chefs have options and will not spend an hour on an application to discover the package is below market. Check current ranges in our yacht chef salary guide before you set the number.
If you genuinely have a range, publish the range.
Rotation is the single most sought-after condition in the industry — time on, time off, salary throughout. If you offer it, lead with it, because it will materially widen your candidate pool. If you do not, say so plainly rather than hinting at “potential for rotation for the right person” unless you mean it. That phrase has been used loosely enough that experienced chefs discount it.
Whether the chef shares a cabin, and what the galley and dry store actually look like, are practical facts that shape whether someone stays. They will find out on day one regardless.
| Role | What changes in the brief |
|---|---|
| Sole chef | Emphasise self-sufficiency: full provisioning, guest and crew service single-handed, food safety compliance owned entirely. State realistic hours. |
| Sous chef | Define the reporting line and who plans menus. Strong fundamentals and temperament can outweigh limited sea time, since there is someone above them. |
| Crew chef | Common on larger vessels. Be clear it is crew-only catering and say so up front — it is a genuinely different job, not a demotion. |
| Temporary / charter chef | State exact dates including travel days, the joining port, and whether the position could extend. Day rate or total fee, not a monthly figure. |
| Rotational head chef | State the pattern (2:2, 3:3), who covers the off rotation, and who pays rotation flights. |
Everything above exists to make the screening honest. When a brief is specific, chefs self-select accurately, references become checkable against a real job description, and the interview can be about judgement rather than establishing basic facts.
When I take a brief from a captain, these are the fields I am filling in whether or not they are in the original message — because I cannot screen properly against a vague role, and neither can you. The interview questions guide covers the next stage once the shortlist arrives.
A yacht chef is responsible for all guest and crew catering aboard — menu planning, provisioning, cooking every service, galley management, food safety compliance and budget control. On larger vessels they lead a galley team; on smaller ones they are the entire department, cooking fine dining and crew meals single-handed, often underway.
Vessel size and type, private or charter use, guest and crew numbers, itinerary and season, cuisine standard, known dietary requirements, whether the role is rotational, start date, reporting line, provisioning budget, required certifications, and the actual salary. Omitting the programme detail or the salary is what produces poor shortlists.
STCW Basic Safety Training and a valid ENG1 medical certificate are mandatory. Food Safety Level 2 is the minimum, with Level 3 preferred for head chef roles. Visa requirements depend on the itinerary — a B1/B2 for US waters, appropriate Schengen arrangements for the Mediterranean.
Yes. Briefs marked “salary DOE” attract fewer and weaker applications, because experienced chefs have options and will not invest time discovering the package is below market. Publishing a range is better than publishing nothing.
Long enough to be specific and no longer. The template above is roughly the right length: vessel and programme facts, responsibilities, requirements, package, how to apply. What matters is precision about workload and package, not word count.
A head chef leads a galley team, typically on vessels above roughly 50 metres, and delegates prep and crew food. A sole chef is the entire galley department — every guest service, all crew meals, provisioning and compliance, alone. The sole chef role demands more self-sufficiency; the head chef role demands leadership.
Send us the brief instead and receive a shortlist of vetted, pre-screened yacht chefs within 48 hours — every one assessed by a working superyacht chef. Choose the fixed €2,500 fee or pay nothing until you hire. Every placement is backed by the 60-day replacement guarantee, and under MLC 2006 we never charge chefs a fee.