Sous Chef

About the role

The University of Northern Iowa Dining team is known for serving the best college food in Iowa, creating a welcoming and well-maintained environment that enhances student life. From preparing meals to supporting daily operations, this dedicated group plays a vital role in campus culture—fostering connection, comfort, and community through every plate served.

Primary Function

Oversees culinary operations, ensuring high-quality food production, and maintaining compliance with established standards; develops and tests recipes; assists with menu planning; manages kitchen production; requisitions food and supplies; maintains inventory and controls meal costs; provides leadership to production and student staff through training and coaching; and ensures proper sanitation practices, labeling, and record-keeping, while also maintaining kitchen equipment and recommending capital purchases to support operational needs.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus at least one year of experience as a Sous Chef or related experience in food service operations required.
• An associate’s degree plus at least four years of experience as a Sous Chef or related experience in food service operations may be substituted.

Preferred Qualifications

• Supervisory experience of culinary staff;
• Experience working in a university or large volume hotel or convention center;
• Experience with recipe creation and specification writing;
• Large volume (300+) catering experience;
• Experience making presentations and teaching cooking classes to students and campus community;
• Fine dining experience;
• Recipe testing experience;
• Experience using local, organic and sustainable products preferred.

Position Details

Job Category: Professional and Scientific
Type of Position: Regular
Service Schedule: 11 Month; The service schedule for this position includes 208 scheduled workdays per fiscal year. A typical work week is Sunday - Thursday, 1:00 pm - 9:30 pm.

Application Instructions

All application materials received by June 29, 2026, will be given full consideration. To apply for this position, please click on “Apply” and complete the Employment Application. The following materials must be attached when applying: Resume, Cover Letter. You will be presented with the opportunity to attach multiple documents when completing the application. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL required materials listed above have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Compensation

$20.00 to Commensurate Pay Basis: Hourly
Pay Grade: 117
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt; position is eligible for overtime or comp time
Iowa's cost of living is among the lowest in the nation and the Common Sense Institute ranks Iowa #1 for paycheck stretch. UNI enhances this advantage with an excellent benefits package for eligible non-temporary positions.

Benefits

Visit our Compensation Tools page to explore your estimated total compensation, compare Waterloo-Cedar Falls cost of living to other major cities or review the paycheck stretch ranking details. Learn more about the Cedar Valley at https://livethevalley.com/.