Assistant Manager
Ajé Cafe and Studio, Ilkley
Full Time | Start date: Approximately 21st September 2026
Ajé is a new independent restaurant, café and wellness space opening in Ilkley, and we’re looking for an exceptional Assistant Manager to become part of the team from the beginning.
This is a very hands-on role. You’ll spend the majority of your time on the floor: running service, looking after guests, making coffee, supporting the team and helping keep standards consistent from open to close.
We’re looking for someone enthusiastic, motivated and clinically organised. Someone who notices the details, enjoys being busy and takes real pride in doing things properly.
Ajé is more than a single restaurant service, so it is important that anyone joining us understands the full business they are becoming part of.
Ajé by Day is our main daytime restaurant and café, open seven days a week. It is built around a proper food offer, speciality coffee, fresh juices and a relaxed but precise style of hospitality. This is where the Assistant Manager will spend most of their time, helping lead a busy daily service and making sure the room, team and guest experience are consistently strong.
Ajé by Night runs on Friday and Saturday evenings and changes the pace of the space. It becomes a more intimate, reservations-led restaurant with a chef-led menu, a carefully selected wine list and a technically ambitious cocktail programme built around recognisable classics, strong technique and thoughtful preparation. The standards remain warm and unstuffy, but the food, drink and service become more detailed and considered.
Ajé Cellar is our more informal wine and drinks offer, centred around interesting bottles, sherry, cocktails, charcuterie, cheese and small plates. It gives guests another way to use Ajé and means the management team needs to be comfortable talking confidently about wine, cocktails, food and drinks rather than simply overseeing a traditional restaurant floor.
Alongside the hospitality business sits the Ajé yoga and wellness studio, with regular yoga classes, memberships, private sessions and workshops. The Assistant Manager will not be expected to teach or manage the studio programme, but the two sides of Ajé share the same building, guests and overall culture. You will need to understand how the studio operates, help make the whole site feel joined-up and be comfortable welcoming people who may be visiting us for a class, coffee, lunch, wine or dinner.
The role works across the whole business, but is weighted mainly towards Ajé by Day. It suits someone who enjoys variety and understands that a single shift may involve coffee, restaurant service, reservations, wine, guest questions about the studio and helping prepare the building for a completely different evening service.
The role
Working closely with the owners and Restaurant Manager, you’ll help run the day-to-day operation of Ajé and take responsibility on the floor when required.
You’ll lead by example during service, support and develop the team, help manage bookings and guest experience, oversee opening and closing duties and make sure the restaurant is organised, prepared and operating at the standard we expect.
This is not a role for someone who wants to manage from the sidelines. We want someone visible, involved and comfortable stepping into whatever the service needs.
Great hospitality at Ajé will be warm and relaxed, but never careless. We’re looking for someone who understands the difference.
We’re looking for someone who:
- Has previous supervisory, assistant management or strong senior floor experience in a good restaurant, café or hospitality business, ready to step up to the next level.
- Is naturally hands-on and enjoys being part of service.
- Is confident leading a shift and supporting a team.
- Is highly organised, reliable and calm under pressure.
- Is warm, personable and genuinely enjoys looking after guests.
- Has good barista skills and an understanding of speciality coffee.
- Has working knowledge of wine and cocktails.
- Is comfortable with opening, closing, cash handling and day-to-day operational responsibility.
- Notices problems and fixes them rather than walking past them.
- Has high standards without unnecessary ego or hierarchy.
- Wants to learn, teach, progress and become an important part of an independent business.
You do not need to arrive knowing everything.
We will provide continual training and development across speciality coffee, wine, cocktails, food and service. We’re more interested in strong foundations, the right attitude and someone who genuinely wants to improve.
What we offer
- A highly involved Assistant Manager position in a new independent business.
- The opportunity to help shape Ajé’s standards and culture from opening.
- Continual professional training and development.
- Meal while on shift.
- Shared tips through-out the team, shared on hours worked.
- Staff discount across Ajé.
- Free yoga classes or discounted studio membership.
- Workplace pension.
- Statutory holiday entitlement.
We’re building a small, ambitious team of people who care about hospitality, enjoy what they do and take pride in the details.
If you’re ready for the next step in your career and want a role where you can be visible, involved and trusted with real responsibility, we’d like to hear from you.
Please apply with your CV and a short introduction/cover letter telling us a little about yourself, where you’ve worked and why Ajé interests you.
Pay: £29,000.00-£33,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Health & wellbeing programme
Work Location: In person
