Executive Pastry Chef

Job Title: Executive Pastry Chef & Head of Culinary Innovation Location: Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

About Drunken Cookies: Drunken Cookies is on a mission to create the world’s most innovative and delicious gourmet cookies. As a brand experiencing rapid growth, we are scaling our production to launch nationwide across the US. We are looking for a foundational Executive Pastry Chef to build and lead our culinary operations from our home base in Puerto Rico.

The Role: This is a leadership role for a chef who thrives at the intersection of high-volume production and groundbreaking culinary innovation. You will own the kitchen, drive our product pipeline, and be the engine behind our brand's taste and quality as we scale.

Key Responsibilities:

• Production Mastery: Spearhead and manage all high-volume production, ensuring uncompromising efficiency, quality, and consistency across every product.
• R&D and Innovation: Act as the creative engine for all R&D initiatives. Develop and perfect new recipes, seasonal products, and future brand extensions (e.g., ice cream, new dough bases).
• Team Leadership: Recruit, train, and mentor a world-class team of pastry cooks and bakers, fostering a culture of excellence and precision.
• Quality & Safety Champion: Uphold and enforce the highest standards of food safety, hygiene, and quality control, ensuring our facility is always audit-ready.
• Supply Chain Management: Oversee all ingredient sourcing, inventory management, and vendor relationships to optimize for cost, quality, and reliability.
• Operational Excellence: Proactively identify and solve complex production challenges, implementing scalable systems to ensure smooth, uninterrupted operations.

Qualifications:

• 2+ years of proven experience as an Executive Pastry Chef in a high-volume manufacturing facility or large-scale commercial kitchen.
• Expert-level knowledge of commercial baking equipment.
• A strong portfolio of successful product development (R&D) from concept to scaled production.
• Demonstrated leadership ability with a track record of building and motivating high-performing teams.
• A creative visionary with a pragmatic, process-driven approach to quality control.
• Thrives in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Excellent communication skills in English (Spanish fluency is a strong plus).
• Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.