Executive Chef

Mandarin Oriental, Da Nang is a forthcoming ultra-luxury beachfront resort located on Vietnam's central coastline, approximately 15 minutes from Da Nang International Airport. Currently targeted to open in 2027, the resort is being developed as a villa-led luxury destination featuring approximately 60 resort villas together with around 80 branded residences within the wider development. Guests will enjoy a range of luxury resort experiences including dining venues, wellness facilities, curated resort experiences, water sports activities, beachfront amenities, and private villa pools. Combining Mandarin Oriental's legendary service with one of Vietnam's most desirable coastal destinations, the resort represents one of the Group's most significant upcoming openings in Southeast Asia.

Role Summary

Reporting to the Director of Food & Beverage, the Executive Chef will lead the culinary vision, pre-opening planning, and ongoing operation of all kitchens at Mandarin Oriental, Da Nang. This role is responsible for developing distinctive dining concepts, establishing culinary standards, overseeing menu engineering and recipe costing, driving food quality and guest satisfaction, and building a high-performing culinary team. The successful candidate will bring significant luxury resort experience and a proven track record in pre-opening environments, helping establish Mandarin Oriental, Da Nang as one of Vietnam's leading luxury resort dining destinations.

As Executive Chef, you will be responsible for the following duties

Departmental

• Operational Leadership: Oversee all operational and administrative aspects of the Culinary Division, prioritising engagement based on business volumes. Formulate and implement policies, standards and procedures for menu design, product specifications, sanitation, and food, labour and operating cost control.
• Strategic Innovation: Monitor industry trends and collaborate with internal and external partners on culinary development initiatives. Lead concept development, menu innovation and culinary programming that supports the resort's positioning.
• Team Management: Recruit, train, evaluate and schedule culinary colleagues according to business requirements. Foster a culture of excellence, teamwork, development and accountability.
• Quality & Guest Satisfaction: Drive culinary excellence across all outlets, ensuring consistency, creativity, presentation and guest satisfaction. Work closely with F&B leadership on menus, promotions and pricing strategies.
• Compliance & Resource Planning: Maintain the highest standards of hygiene, food safety, equipment maintenance and operational readiness. Collaborate closely with Procurement and Finance to ensure cost-effective sourcing and inventory management.
• Pre-opening Leadership: Lead kitchen pre-opening activities including recruitment, SOP development, recipe standardisation, menu engineering, kitchen setup, equipment commissioning and operational testing.

Customer Focus

• Personally engage with VIP guests and stakeholders on culinary requirements and bespoke dining experiences.
• Ensure all dietary needs, special requests and guest preferences are met to the highest standards.
• Partner with the Food & Beverage team to create memorable dining experiences that reflect the destination and resort positioning.
• Inspire culinary teams to consistently create memorable guest moments.

Colleague Relations

• Conduct regular one-on-one meetings with culinary colleagues to support engagement and development.
• Communicate hotel standards, policies and expectations clearly and consistently.
• Conduct coaching, counselling and disciplinary discussions in line with company policies when required.
• Hold regular departmental briefings and maintain strong communication across teams.
• Mentor and develop future culinary leaders.

Administrative Duties

• Monitor and control departmental P&L performance with a strong focus on food cost, labour cost and operating expenses.
• Manage staffing levels and scheduling in line with occupancy and business volumes.
• Oversee the development and maintenance of menus, recipes, preparation standards and plating guides.
• Ensure all recipe costing and menu pricing are established and maintained to support profitability objectives.
• Conduct menu engineering exercises and outlet performance reviews on a regular basis.
• Ensure compliance with all Mandarin Oriental and Jardine financial policies and control procedures.

Additional Duties

• Maintain awareness of global culinary trends and luxury resort dining concepts.
• Conduct hands-on culinary training sessions to drive continuous improvement and consistency.
• Support seasonal promotions, resort events and special culinary activations.
• Attend and actively participate in management and operational meetings.
• Perform any other reasonable duties as assigned by the Director of Food & Beverage.

As Executive Chef, we expect from you

• Luxury Resort Experience: Proven track record as an Executive Chef or senior culinary leader within internationally recognised luxury resort or luxury hotel brands.
• Asia Experience: Extensive experience operating within Asia, with a strong understanding of regional culinary trends, guest expectations and supplier networks.
• Hotel Opening Experience: Demonstrated success in luxury hotel or resort pre-openings, including recruitment, menu engineering, recipe costing, kitchen commissioning and team development.
• Strong knowledge of international cuisine, destination dining concepts and contemporary culinary trends.
• Experience leading large, multicultural culinary brigades.
• Strong commercial acumen and experience managing food cost, labour cost and profitability.
• Advanced knowledge of HACCP, food safety and hygiene standards.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Fluency in English is required. Additional language capabilities will be considered advantageous.

Behavioural Skills / Attributes

• Ability to work in a dynamic pre-opening environment.
• Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills.
• Customer focused and team oriented.
• Flexibility and adaptability, with high energy levels.
• Ability to effectively organise and manage multiple projects and priorities.
• Passion for culinary innovation and guest experience.
• Highly self-motivated and detail minded.
• Strong commercial and operational awareness.

Our Commitment to You

• Learning & Development. Your success is our success. We craft unique learning and development programmes for various stages in your career so that you grow, continuously.
• MOstay. When you work as hard as our colleagues do, it's important to take time off. As a member of the #MOfamily, you can stay with us wherever you go in the world. The MOstay programme offers complimentary nights and additionally attractive rates on rooms for you and your loved ones.
• Health & Colleague Wellness. Finding the right work-life balance is important. Your wellbeing matters to us. A variety of health benefits and wellness programmes are offered to all our colleagues, globally.