- Location: Middle East. Specific country and city shared with shortlisted candidates under NDA.
- Contract: Full-time.
- Working Pattern: Calendar-driven. Shifts with the Principal’s training, competition, taper, and off-season cycle.
- Travel: Extensive international travel with the Principal, often at short notice, to competitions and training camps.
- Confidentiality: Strictly confidential search. NDA required before further details are disclosed.
- Compensation: Commensurate with senior performance-chef benchmarks for elite-athlete private households.
Overview
Oplu is leading the search for a Pro-Performance Chef to join a high-profile private athlete household based in the Middle East. This is a newly created position, sitting within a small and discreet household team, supporting the Principal’s training and competition programme at the highest level.
The Principal competes at an elite level and travels internationally for competitions and training camps throughout the year. The Pro-Performance Chef will take full ownership of nutrition delivery across the calendar, translating macro and periodised nutrition plans into meals that are precise, high-quality, and consistently excellent, at home and on the road.
Whether your background is as a Performance Chef to a professional athlete, a Private Chef to an elite-sport household, a Sports Nutrition Chef within a national squad or academy programme, or a Personal Chef with formal sports nutrition training, this is one of the most considered private-athlete culinary appointments in the region this year.
The Opportunity
This is not a private chef role with a nutrition badge on it. It is a performance-chef position, structured around the Principal’s coach, nutritionist, sports scientist, and physiotherapist, and accountable for translating their plans into daily execution on the plate.
The successful candidate will work closely with the Principal’s performance team, own the daily menu against agreed macronutrient targets, adapt across the full training cycle, and hold standards on the road at the same level as at home.
The compensation, travel exposure, and profile of the household reflect the seniority of the position. Compensation detail and full terms are shared with shortlisted candidates under NDA.
Who this role suits
This role is best suited to an experienced Pro-Performance Chef, Private Performance Chef, or senior Private Chef with confirmed elite-athlete or high-performance household exposure.
Backgrounds that translate directly include a Performance Chef to a professional athlete or professional sports household, a Private Chef to an elite-sport Principal at an equivalent tier, a Sports Nutrition Chef within a national squad, Olympic programme, tour team, or academy, or a Personal Chef with formal sports nutrition training and a track record of periodised menu delivery.
The right candidate is technically excellent in the kitchen, fluent in macro and periodised nutrition, calm on competition weeks, and comfortable operating as part of a performance team rather than as a solo lead.
This is not a personality-driven front-of-house chef role. It is not suited to a private chef who has only done some nutrition on the side.
Key Responsibilities
Daily nutrition delivery
- Design daily menus to meet macronutrient targets, including protein, carbohydrate, and fat, set by the Principal’s nutritionist or sports scientist and adjusted by training phase.
- Adapt meal plans across the full training cycle, including pre-season, in-season, competition week, taper, recovery, and off-season.
- Prepare recovery-focused meals supporting muscle repair, glycogen replenishment, inflammation reduction, and sleep quality.
- Maintain accurate daily food and macronutrient records for the performance team.
Competition and travel
- Manage nutritional build-up to competitions, including carbohydrate loading, hydration strategy, pre-event meals, and post-event recovery nutrition.
- Travel internationally with the Principal for competitions and training camps, often at short notice.
- Research local sourcing and kitchen facilities in advance of each destination.
- Batch cook, pre-portion, and prepare travel-ready provisions for training facilities and competition venues.
Sourcing and supplier management
- Source high-quality proteins, complex carbohydrates, seasonal produce, and functional ingredients.
- Build and manage specialist supplier relationships in the home market and in frequent travel destinations.
- Apply cost discipline without compromising standards.
Performance-team collaboration
- Work closely with the Principal’s nutritionist, coach, sports scientist, and physiotherapist.
- Feed back on dietary compliance, appetite, energy, and recovery cues.
- Adjust plans in real time in response to training load, illness, travel, and competition demands.
- Operate as an integrated member of the performance team, not as an independent lead.
Requirements
Must-haves
- Proven experience as a Private Chef or Performance Chef in an elite-athlete, professional sports, or comparable high-performance household environment.
- Strong working knowledge of sports nutrition, macronutrient planning, and periodised menu delivery across training phases.
- Confirmed track record of preparing food to macronutrient targets set by a nutritionist or sports scientist, and of holding those targets on the road.
- Comfortable with a demanding, calendar-driven schedule that shifts with competition dates and travels internationally.
- Willingness and ability to travel extensively, often at short notice.
- Exceptional discretion, professionalism, and a genuine understanding of what it means to work within a high-profile private household.
- Flexible, calm under pressure, and used to operating as part of a wider support team rather than independently.
- Excellent English, spoken and written.
- Comfortable signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement before further details of the role are shared.
Strong advantage
- Formal nutrition training or nutrition qualifications, such as a nutrition degree, sports nutrition certification, SENr registration, ISAK training, or equivalent.
- Prior travel with an athlete or a competing team through a full competition calendar.
- Exposure to elite-endurance, elite-strength, elite-racket, or elite-combat sport nutrition, depending on discipline.
- Additional languages relevant to the Middle East region or to international competition venues.
Preferred background
- Career Performance Chef or Private Chef with a demonstrated commitment to sports nutrition as a specialism, not a passing interest.
- Comfortable operating in a strictly confidential, high-profile household environment.
- Existing rapport with performance teams, including coach, nutritionist, sports scientist, and physio, or a demonstrated ability to build it quickly.
Practical Information
- The role is a full-time, in-household appointment. Live-in versus live-out arrangement will be confirmed with shortlisted candidates.
- Compensation is shared with shortlisted candidates under NDA and reflects senior performance-chef benchmarks for elite-athlete private households.
- Right-to-work requirements and visa support, where applicable, will be confirmed with shortlisted candidates.
- Start date to be confirmed.
Application Process
Apply confidentially via the form on this page. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who progress will be asked to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement before further details of the role, location, household, and terms are disclosed. If you do not hear from us within 14 days, please consider your application unsuccessful on this occasion.
