Senior Barista

We're Hiring: Senior Barista

Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: Senior

Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a globally focused hospitality organization committed to delivering exceptional coffee, beverage, and guest experiences across diverse markets.

Our teams collaborate across Food & Beverage, Culinary, Restaurant Operations, Guest Services, Procurement, Quality, Marketing, and external coffee partners to deliver consistently high-quality products and professional service.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Barista to lead coffee preparation, beverage service, quality standards, bar operations, team training, equipment management, and guest experience.

The ideal candidate will combine advanced coffee knowledge with strong technical skills, service excellence, operational discipline, and leadership capabilities to maintain consistently high beverage quality while supporting efficient daily operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead daily barista and coffee-service operations while maintaining high standards of quality and service.
• Prepare and serve espresso-based beverages, brewed coffee, specialty beverages, and other menu items according to established standards.
• Calibrate espresso machines and grinders to achieve consistent extraction and beverage quality.
• Monitor grind size, dose, yield, extraction time, water temperature, pressure, and other relevant variables.
• Perform regular espresso calibration throughout the operating day as required.
• Maintain consistent recipes, preparation methods, presentation standards, and portion controls.
• Prepare filter coffee, pour-over, batch brew, cold brew, and other specialty coffee preparations.
• Steam and texture milk correctly for different beverage types and presentation requirements.
• Produce high-quality latte art where required by the concept and service standards.
• Maintain knowledge of coffee origins, processing methods, roast profiles, flavor characteristics, and brewing techniques.
• Explain coffee characteristics and preparation methods clearly to guests.
• Provide personalized recommendations based on guest preferences and beverage requirements.
• Maintain excellent guest-service standards throughout all interactions.
• Handle guest questions, requests, complaints, and beverage-related service issues professionally.
• Coordinate with service and restaurant teams to ensure accurate and timely beverage delivery.
• Maintain efficient workflow during peak service periods while protecting beverage quality.
• Organize bar stations to support speed, cleanliness, safety, and operational efficiency.
• Ensure all ingredients, coffee beans, milk, syrups, garnishes, and consumables are properly prepared and available.
• Monitor stock levels and communicate replenishment requirements to supervisors or procurement teams.
• Receive and inspect coffee, milk, ingredients, equipment, and other beverage supplies.
• Check product quality, freshness, packaging, storage conditions, and expiration dates.
• Maintain proper storage and handling of coffee beans and other perishable products.
• Apply appropriate stock rotation and inventory-control procedures.
• Minimize product waste, overproduction, spills, breakage, and beverage errors.
• Maintain accurate beverage recipes, preparation specifications, and operating procedures.
• Ensure coffee equipment is cleaned, maintained, and operated according to manufacturer and company standards.
• Perform routine cleaning and maintenance of espresso machines, grinders, brewers, blenders, refrigerators, and other bar equipment.
• Identify equipment issues and coordinate repairs or technical support when required.
• Monitor water quality and filtration systems where applicable.
• Maintain appropriate hygiene and sanitation standards across all bar areas and equipment.
• Follow food-safety, beverage-safety, occupational-safety, and company procedures.
• Conduct opening and closing checks for coffee stations and beverage areas.
• Verify equipment readiness, stock availability, cleanliness, and operating conditions before service.
• Train and coach junior baristas and beverage-service team members.
• Demonstrate correct coffee preparation, espresso calibration, milk steaming, beverage presentation, and service techniques.
• Conduct practical training sessions and beverage-quality assessments.
• Support onboarding of new barista team members.
• Monitor team adherence to recipes, service standards, hygiene requirements, and operating procedures.
• Provide constructive feedback and coaching to improve technical performance and guest service.
• Support shift planning, station assignments, workflow coordination, and peak-period coverage.
• Act as a senior point of contact for barista-related operational issues.
• Conduct quality checks on beverages prepared by the team.
• Identify recurring quality issues and implement corrective actions.
• Work with management to establish and monitor beverage quality standards.
• Support development and testing of new coffee and beverage recipes.
• Participate in seasonal menu development, specialty coffee programs, and beverage innovation.
• Conduct product trials and sensory evaluations for new coffee beans and beverage ingredients.
• Collaborate with chefs, beverage managers, and operations teams on menu development and pairing opportunities.
• Support coffee-tasting sessions, cupping activities, demonstrations, workshops, and guest experiences.
• Maintain awareness of coffee-industry trends, brewing technologies, emerging origins, processing methods, and specialty-coffee developments.
• Build professional relationships with coffee roasters, suppliers, equipment providers, and industry partners.
• Provide feedback to management regarding coffee quality, supplier performance, equipment requirements, and operational improvements.
• Monitor beverage sales, product popularity, guest feedback, and service performance.
• Support initiatives to improve beverage profitability while maintaining quality standards.
• Maintain accurate records relating to inventory, equipment maintenance, training, quality checks, and operational issues.
• Support audits and inspections relating to food safety, hygiene, quality, and operational compliance.
• Identify opportunities to improve bar workflows, service speed, beverage consistency, and guest experience.
• Promote a culture of professionalism, cleanliness, teamwork, continuous learning, and coffee excellence.

Key Performance Indicators

• Beverage quality consistency
• Espresso extraction quality
• Espresso calibration compliance
• Beverage preparation accuracy
• Beverage presentation quality
• Coffee taste and sensory quality
• Guest satisfaction
• Beverage-related complaint rate
• Beverage order accuracy
• Average beverage preparation time
• Peak-period service efficiency
• Beverage sales
• Coffee sales growth
• Average beverage value
• Specialty coffee sales
• New beverage performance
• Beverage waste percentage
• Coffee bean waste
• Milk and ingredient waste
• Inventory accuracy
• Stock variance
• Stockout frequency
• Product freshness compliance
• Equipment uptime
• Equipment maintenance compliance
• Cleaning and sanitation compliance
• Food-safety compliance
• Recipe compliance
• Bar operating procedure compliance
• Staff training completion
• Barista competency assessment
• Coffee knowledge assessment
• Beverage quality audit results
• Guest feedback performance
• Service recovery performance
• New beverage development completion
• Product trial completion
• Supplier quality performance
• Supplier delivery accuracy
• Beverage cost percentage
• Cost per beverage
• Continuous-improvement completion

Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate should have strong experience in specialty coffee, cafés, restaurants, hotels, resorts, hospitality, or premium beverage operations, preferably within high-volume or internationally recognized environments.

The candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong practical experience as a professional barista.
• Advanced knowledge of espresso preparation and coffee brewing techniques.
• Strong understanding of coffee origins, varieties, processing methods, roasting, and flavor profiles.
• Excellent espresso calibration and extraction skills.
• Strong milk-steaming, beverage preparation, and presentation capabilities.
• Experience preparing specialty coffee using multiple brewing methods.
• Strong understanding of coffee equipment, grinders, espresso machines, brewers, and related technology.
• Experience maintaining and cleaning professional coffee equipment.
• Strong sensory evaluation and coffee-tasting capabilities.
• Experience with coffee cupping and quality assessment is highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, hygiene, sanitation, and safe beverage handling.
• Excellent guest-service and communication skills.
• Ability to explain coffee characteristics and recommendations clearly to customers.
• Strong leadership and coaching capabilities.
• Experience training and developing junior baristas.
• Ability to maintain high standards during busy and high-pressure service periods.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to beverage consistency.
• Good understanding of inventory control, stock rotation, and beverage cost management.
• Experience working with coffee roasters, suppliers, and equipment providers.
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Familiarity with POS, inventory, ordering, and restaurant-management systems.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with culinary, service, and management teams.
• Excellent English communication skills; additional languages are desirable.
• Professional coffee or barista certifications are highly desirable.
• Experience working with international and multicultural hospitality teams is highly desirable.