Senior Creative Development Chef

Role: Senior Creative Development Chef

Employment type: Full-time

Location: On-site in Bali

Agency X is a leading end-to-end hospitality and F&B consultancy that builds, designs, and launches world-class food and beverage concepts for global hotel groups and premium restaurants and bars.

Agency X is a joint venture between Locavore Group, with our offices based inside Locavore NXT and a sibling-style relationship across cultures, teams and projects.

Agency X’s F&B Development Department's full range of services for our clients' projects includes: the initial concept, trend and culinary research, curating the menus, recipe development, tastings, plating and creative rituals, storytelling, operational documentation and training. Within the wider organisation, this team partners on projects including kitchen designs, layouts and equipment selection, OS&E (creative ceramics, uniforms etc), creative guest experiences and other creative design work.

The F&B Development department is a team comprised of;

• Group Executive Chef
• Culinary Development Director
• Culinary Researcher & Development Coordinator
• Beverage Development Director
• Creative Director/Client Supervisor

Position Overview

Following the restructuring of the F&B Development Department into a specialized two-person ecosystem, the Senior Creative Development Chef role is designed to focus purely on high-impact culinary vision, hands-on execution, and face-to-face client leadership. Freed from extensive administrative work, this Chef acts as the true experiential heartbeat of the consultancy.

Working hand-in-hand with our dedicated Culinary Researcher & Development Coordinator (who serves as the department's structural and desk-based engine), your primary mission is to translate abstract concepts into tangible, physical, award-winning plates. While the Researcher hunts for initial culinary inspiration and builds baseline blueprints, you will physically perfect them in the Development Kitchen (Locavore NXT in Bali) and on-site at client locations worldwide.

This role is explicitly tailored for a highly experienced senior chef who thrives on physical culinary development, loves high-stakes client engagement, and commands external kitchen teams dynamically under rigorous pressure during soft launches and grand opening weeks.

Key Responsibilities

1. Hands-on Menu Crafting & Perfecting

• Concept Translation: Turn client concepts into on-brief culinary menus that meet the absolute highest standards of creativity and quality.
• Physical R&D Execution: Partnering with the Culinary Researcher & Developer, take raw recipe blueprints, baseline proportions, and structural research frameworks and perfect them through extensive physical kitchen trials.
• Synergistic Innovation: Utilise direct access to the Locavore Group's specialised facilities to refine flavour profiles and establish true culinary originality. (NXT’s Fermentation Kitchen/ R&D Lab and local ingredient experts, Indonesian cuisine expert chefs at Nusantara restaurant, butchery and charcuteries specialists at Local Parts, quality casual and comfort food chefs at Locavore To Go, craft cocktail and house-made liquid component specialists at Night Rooster).
• Beverage Collaboration: collaborate directly with the Beverage Development Director to create cohesive culinary and beverage narratives, ensuring seamless drink pairings and harmonised F&B tasting menus.
• Deliver the final menus: Polished, thoughtful, curated and at a very high standard, the final menus reflect the brief and inspire our clients, the project's F&B teams and ultimately creative, unique and memorable customer experiences.

2. Client Tastings & Engagement

• Tasting Delivery: Formulate, prepare, and cook bespoke sample menus for presentation directly to internal stakeholders and, once refined, prepare for client presentations and tastings.
• Refine: Clear interpretation of feedback to refine, adjust and improve the dishes and overall menu delivery.

3. Creative Plating, Visual Frameworks and Ideas

• Visual Architecture: Working with the Executive Chef and Creative Director, define specific plating frameworks and tableware concepts that support the overarching menu narrative.
• Bespoke Sourcing: Partnering with the department opportunity to propose ideas and creative concepts to brief artisan ceramicists, woodworkers, and tableware suppliers to design bespoke serving ware configurations.
• Craft the narrative: Identify opportunities to develop menu items, techniques, rituals and experiences that are creatively and directly on brief for the F&B concept to act as signature dishes and pillars in the menus. Propose ideas and collaborate with the Executive Chef and Creative Director to develop and execute.

4. Kitchen Leadership & Pre-Opening Supervision

• Commanding Teams: Act as the leading on-site force, dynamically commanding external kitchen teams during vital pre-opening iterations, soft launches, and grand opening weeks.
• Fidelity Enforcement: Supervise Head F&B staff and systems directly in the field to enforce consistency and preserve operational fidelity across multiple client accounts.

5. Training Delivery & Operational Handover

• Hands-on Instruction: Spearhead interactive, in-person training frameworks for the client's Head Chefs and kitchen crews to ensure perfect replication of the developed menus.
• Collaboration Pack Review: Work alongside the Culinary Researcher & Developer to review Menu Handover Packs, ensuring physical kitchen trials match standard operating procedures (SOPs) and plating photography briefs.

Profile & Skills Required

• The Culinary Visionary: A profound and proven mastery of high-end kitchen discipline, flavour structures, and modern kitchen culture, paired with exceptional culinary creativity.
• Astute Leadership & Mentorship: Exceptional capabilities to command, teach, and inspire diverse kitchen teams under strict timelines and opening pressure.
• Strong Client Communication: Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills to confidently interact with the department team and with internal stakeholders and external clients.
• Commercial Logic: A strong grip on operational kitchen realities, commercial menu viability, and kitchen ergonomics.

Experience Requirements

• Required: Proven tenure running premium, Michelin-calibre operations as an Senior Sous Chef or Head Chef.
• Preferred: Prior experience in international F&B consulting, concept development, or specialised culinary R&D roles.

What We Offer

• A highly creative, dynamic agency environment working with premium global hospitality brands.
• Parity compensation with the Chef de Cuisine (CDC) at Locavore NXT.
• A specialised two-person structural ecosystem with a dedicated Culinary Researcher handling extensive documentation, manual creation, and desk-based assets.
• All project-related overseas travel, logistics, and accommodation expenses covered by Agency X.

Applications

Please complete the Google Form here https://forms.gle/hE1k1AjybK8PRMzz9