Camp Chef (Portuguese speaking)

C4 is recruiting an experienced Camp Chef to join our team in Luena, Moxico Province, Angola. We are looking for someone with a strong background in catering or hospitality who can prepare high-quality meals, maintain excellent kitchen and food safety standards, and support the day-to-day catering needs of our team. Fluency in both Portuguese and English is essential for this role.

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Camp Chef is responsible for planning, preparing and delivering high-quality meals for resident staff at the Luena, Moxico Province, Angola (base camp). The role serves a professional, multinational team of expatriate and national staff working in a demanding field environment, where the quality and consistency of meals and the standard of the kitchen directly support staff wellbeing, performance and morale.

This is a hands-on, full-time cooking role for a qualified and experienced chef who understands the culinary preferences and dietary expectations of international professional teams. The ideal candidate brings experience from a tourist lodge, safari camp, expatriate accommodation facility or similar hospitality environment where cooking for a mixed international clientele to a consistently high standard — and maintaining the kitchen and food safety standards that go with it — was a daily requirement.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Meal Planning and Preparation

• Plan, prepare and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily for all resident staff, maintaining variety, nutritional balance and consistently high quality.
• Develop weekly menus in consultation with the Camp Manager, accommodating dietary requirements, cultural preferences and individual needs of resident staff.
• Prepare meals to the standard expected of a professional hospitality environment — not basic institutional catering.
• Ensure that all food is prepared, stored and served in accordance with food hygiene and safety standards at all times.
• Adapt menus creatively to available local ingredients while maintaining quality and variety.

2. Kitchen Management and Hygiene Compliance

• Maintain a clean, organised and fully functional kitchen at all times — including all equipment, surfaces, utensils, chopping boards, storage areas, refrigeration units and waste disposal facilities.
• Enforce strict personal hygiene standards for all kitchen personnel — including correct handwashing procedures, appropriate protective clothing, hair covering, and the immediate exclusion of any individual showing signs of illness from food preparation areas.
• Implement and enforce hygienic food storage protocols — correct labelling with preparation and expiry dates, temperature monitoring and control, stock rotation on a first-in first-out basis, and strict physical separation of raw and cooked food at all times.
• Maintain a daily kitchen hygiene log recording cleaning activities, temperature checks, equipment condition and any hygiene concerns identified during the shift.
• Conduct daily kitchen hygiene checks at the start and end of each service, ensuring all areas meet required standards before food preparation begins.
• Ensure full compliance with food safety standards throughout all food preparation, cooking and service activities — including safe core cooking temperatures, correct cooling procedures and appropriate holding temperatures for served food.
• Ensure all refrigeration and cold storage units maintain correct temperatures and that temperature logs are completed daily. Report any refrigeration failure to the Camp Manager immediately.
• Report any pest activity, structural maintenance concerns or hygiene hazards to the Camp Manager immediately and take interim containment measures where appropriate.
• Ensure all kitchen cleaning products and chemicals are stored separately from food, correctly labelled and used only as directed.
• Report any defects in kitchen equipment to the Camp Manager immediately and take the affected equipment out of use until repaired or replaced.

3. Pantry, Stock and Procurement Support

• Maintain the shared pantry system to a consistently high hygiene standard — all food stocks, dry goods, condiments and kitchen consumables must be stored in sealed containers, correctly labelled, date-marked and organised to prevent contamination and facilitate first-in first-out stock rotation.
• Conduct weekly pantry inspections, checking for expired items, damaged packaging, signs of moisture or pest activity, and removing any items that do not meet hygiene standards immediately.
• Ensure dry storage areas are clean, dry, well-ventilated and free from direct sunlight, and that all items are stored off the floor on appropriate shelving.
• Ensure junior kitchen staff assigned to pantry and storage duties are trained in and consistently apply correct hygiene, labelling, storage and rotation standards — and that compliance is monitored and corrected daily.
• Prepare weekly shopping lists for Camp Manager approval, reflecting menu plans, dietary requirements, current stock levels and upcoming resident numbers.
• Receive, inspect and correctly store all food deliveries — checking for damaged packaging, incorrect temperatures on chilled or frozen items, quality concerns and quantity discrepancies. Report any issue to the Camp Manager immediately and reject any delivery that does not meet hygiene or quality standards.
• Ensure all deliveries are handled and stored by kitchen staff in accordance with correct hygiene procedures from the point of receipt — no item is placed into storage without being inspected, date-marked and correctly positioned within the appropriate storage area.
• Maintain a stock control register tracking deliveries, usage and current stock levels for all key items, enabling accurate forecasting and preventing shortages and overstocking.
• Minimise food waste through accurate portioning, disciplined stock management, correct storage practices and creative use of ingredients approaching their use-by date.

4. Dietary and Cultural Awareness

• Accommodate the full range of dietary requirements present in the team — including religious dietary restrictions, food allergies, intolerances and personal preferences — without compromising meal quality or variety for other residents.
• Demonstrate genuine familiarity with international cuisines and the culinary expectations of expatriate professional teams.
• Maintain awareness of staff feedback on meals and continuously improve menu planning and preparation in response.

5. Kitchen Team and Coordination

• Supervise, manage and develop junior kitchen support staff — setting clear daily task allocations, maintaining consistent performance standards and providing on-the-job coaching and correction where required.
• Ensure all kitchen staff — including junior kitchen assistants and any casual support — understand, follow and consistently apply the kitchen's hygiene standards, food safety protocols and personal hygiene requirements at all times.
• Conduct regular hygiene briefings with kitchen staff, reinforcing correct handwashing procedures, personal protective equipment requirements, appropriate clothing and hair covering, and the exclusion of any person showing signs of illness from food preparation areas.
• Monitor kitchen staff hygiene practices during every service and address any non-compliance immediately — hygiene standards are non-negotiable and apply equally to all kitchen personnel regardless of seniority or task.
• Train new kitchen staff in food storage protocols, cleaning schedules, equipment handling and personal hygiene standards before they begin working independently in the kitchen.
• Maintain a kitchen staff duties roster, ensuring workload is distributed fairly, cleaning responsibilities are clearly assigned and all areas of the kitchen are covered at every service.
• Report any performance, conduct or hygiene concerns regarding kitchen staff to the Camp Manager promptly.

KEY SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL

• Diploma or degree in Hospitality Management or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in lodge, camp, hospitality or accommodation management — ideally in a remote, field-based or expatriate accommodation environment.
• Experience supervising and training junior kitchen staff in hygiene and food safety standards.
• Food safety or hygiene certification — or commitment to obtain before commencing duties.
• Demonstrated experience establishing administrative systems, office setup and operational infrastructure in a new or expanding operation Experience coordinating travel bookings, visa documentation and logistics administration.
• Familiarity with basic finance processes — invoicing, petty cash, expense reconciliation and vendor management.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills — able to work with a diverse, multinational resident and office population.
• Proven experience managing housekeeping, catering and kitchen operations simultaneously
• Strong procurement, stock management and budget tracking skills
• Experience managing a small team across multiple operational functions
• Highly organised, proactive and able to manage multiple priorities independently without close supervision
• Fluent Portuguese and English required, as the working environment is multilingual — Portuguese is essential for engaging with local staff, suppliers and authorities, and English is required for reporting to and communicating with the expatriate and international management team.
• Additional local Angolan languages spoken in Moxico Province is an advantage.
• A valid driver's licence is required.

DESIRABLE

• Experience managing in remote environments and field camp operations.
• Knowledge of the Luena or Moxico Province area.
• Experience supporting expatriate accommodation and rotation logistics.
• Experience working in an NGO, development or field programme environment.
• Basic facilities maintenance knowledge.

Please note that if you have not heard feedback within 21 days of submitting your CV, kindly consider your application unsuccessful.