Executive Chef
The executive chef is the most senior cook on board and head of the galley department. You will find the role on yachts of roughly 80m and up, where several chefs feed guests and a large crew. You still cook for the owner every day. A large part of the job is also leadership, planning and logistics, carried out to a standard the owner notices at every meal.
The jobWhat fills the day
An executive chef runs the galley as a department. On a 100m yacht that can mean feeding 30 guests and 50 crew three times a day. The brigade might include a sous chef, a pastry chef, chefs de partie and a crew chef. You still cook, and the owner expects to see your plates. Much of the work is planning: menus weeks ahead, provisioning orders across three continents, rotas, budgets, and the food safety system the flag state will inspect.
With guests aboard the days are long and the menu changes by the hour. On the same day you might do breakfast to order, a beach barbecue for 24, a tasting menu at night, a birthday cake for a child and a private dinner in the owner's study. You set the standard and you run the pass. Between trips you run deep cleans, stock takes, training and the next provisioning cycle. You also plan galley equipment servicing with the engineers.
The title only exists on larger yachts and on a few private programmes with big families. Owners and captains hire people who have already run a yacht galley as head chef, usually on 60m or more. Many also have Michelin or five-star hotel kitchens behind them. References from previous owners carry real weight. Expect to send sample menus and photos, and to do a trial cook, sometimes for the family office or the owner in person.
Most people reach this job after ten years or more. The usual route is commis or third chef, then sous chef, then head chef on a mid-size yacht, then executive chef. From here the moves tend to be sideways or ashore. Some go rotational to get time with family. Some cook for the same owner at their estates or on the jet. Others move into provisioning, consultancy or galley design for new builds.
Skills captains look for
- Brigade leadership
- Menu planning at scale
- Remote provisioning
- Galley budgeting
- HACCP and food safety
- Allergen and dietary management
- Fine dining technique
A day aboardOwner trip, 105m motor yacht, Maldives
Check the pastry chef's breads and the breakfast mise en place. Brief the sous chef on guest plans from the interior manager's preference sheet.
Breakfast to order for 16 guests, with the crew chef feeding 45 crew in the mess.
Meeting with the captain and interior manager. Lunch has moved to a sandbank picnic, so you rework the menu and send kit lists to the deck team.
Fresh reef fish arrives from a Malé supplier by tender. Probe temperatures, log deliveries and reject anything that falls short.
Run lunch on the sandbank from a field kitchen while the sous chef holds the galley.
Two hours off in your cabin, then back on.
Brigade briefing for an eight-course dinner. Allergen checks go through with service staff.
Dinner service. You run the pass and plate the owner's courses yourself.
Check the clean-down, sign the temperature logs and send next week's provisioning order to Dubai.
Pay by yacht sizeMonthly, before tips. Estimates. Bars share one scale.
Charter yachts add tips, often 10-15% of the charter fee shared among crew, which can mean several thousand dollars a trip. Rotation posts usually pay the same monthly rate for fewer months a year, or a slightly lower annualised figure. See the Yacht Chef & Galley salary guide for figures from live adverts.
Tickets and visas
Must have
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- ENG1 medical
- MCA Ship's Cook Certificate
- Food Hygiene Level 2
Gets you hired
- Food Safety Level 3 or 4 (supervising or managing)
- HACCP Level 3
- PDSD
- WSET Level 2 or 3
- Leadership and management course (HELM Operational)
Visas
- Schengen right to work or visa
- US C1/D
- B1/B2 for US cruising
Where it leadsA typical career path
Executive Chef jobsOpen now on SuperyachtRoles.com
Questions crew ask
What is the difference between an executive chef and a head chef?
A head chef runs a galley of one to three chefs and does most of the cooking. An executive chef leads a larger brigade on a bigger yacht and carries the budget and planning load of a full department. The titles do overlap, so the brigade size in the advert tells you more than the name.
Do I need formal culinary training?
Formal training is not always required, but nearly every executive chef has it, or has years in serious restaurant or hotel kitchens. Owners at this level expect classical technique, breadth across cuisines and polished presentation. A strong portfolio and owner references count for more than any single diploma.
Is the Ship's Cook Certificate compulsory?
Under MLC 2006, larger yachts with a bigger safe manning usually have to carry a qualified ship's cook. On these yachts the senior chef is normally expected to hold the MCA Ship's Cook Certificate or a flag equivalent. Get it before you apply, because many captains filter on it.
Can I do this job on rotation?
Yes. Rotation is common at this level, especially on 100m+ yachts with busy owner programmes. Your opposite number will run to a shared standard, so handovers, recipe files and stock records have to be thorough.