Cocktail Bartender
Ajé Cafe and Studio, Ilkley
Part Time | Friday & Saturday Evenings | 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 experienced Cocktail Bartender to become part of the team from the beginning.
This is a focused Friday and Saturday evening position for someone who genuinely enjoys making drinks properly.
We’re looking for someone enthusiastic, sharp, organised and technically confident behind a bar. Someone who understands that great cocktails rely on preparation, consistency and attention to detail just as much as personality.
Ajé is made up of several different parts, but this role will sit primarily within our evening operation.
Ajé by Night runs every Friday and Saturday evening, when the daytime café becomes a more intimate, reservations-led restaurant with a chef-led menu, a carefully selected wine list and a technically ambitious cocktail programme.
The drinks are built around recognisable classics, but use more considered preparation and technique: infusions, fat-washing, oleo saccharums, reductions, saline, clarified and acid-adjusted ingredients and house-prepared components.
The intention is not to make complicated drinks for the sake of it.
We want cocktails that guests recognise and want to drink, but that have clearly had a great deal of thought and work put into them.
Our opening menu includes our own takes on drinks such as the Cosmopolitan, Daiquiri, Espresso Martini, Old Fashioned, Margarita, Vesper, Negroni and French 75.
Preparation is therefore as important as service.
You’ll need to understand recipes precisely, follow batching and preparation systems, maintain quality throughout service and produce the same drink to the same standard every time.
Ajé Cellar is our more informal wine and drinks offer, centred around interesting bottles, sherry, cocktails, charcuterie, cheese and small plates.
The bar team will need to feel comfortable moving between cocktails, wine and straightforward hospitality rather than operating as a separate cocktail bar within the restaurant.
You don’t need to be a sommelier, but an interest in wine and sherry is important and we’ll provide ongoing training.
During the day, Ajé operates as Ajé by Day, our seven-day restaurant and café built around food, speciality coffee, fresh juices and a relaxed style of hospitality.
Alongside this sits the Ajé yoga and wellness studio, with regular classes, memberships, private sessions and workshops.
You won’t be directly involved in these parts of the business during most shifts, but we want everyone joining Ajé to understand the wider concept and the culture they are becoming part of.
The role
You’ll work primarily behind the bar on Friday and Saturday evenings, preparing and serving cocktails throughout Ajé by Night and supporting the wider drinks service.
You’ll be responsible for setting up the bar properly before service, preparing and checking ingredients, following recipes and batching systems, maintaining glassware and equipment, keeping the bar clinically clean and organised and closing everything down correctly at the end of the night.
During service, you’ll work closely with the floor team rather than operating separately from it.
You’ll need to understand the food, know what we’re pouring and be comfortable talking to guests about drinks when required.
When the bar is quieter, you’ll help the wider team.
When it gets busy, you’ll stay controlled.
We want someone who can work quickly without losing precision.
We’re looking for someone who:
- Has previous cocktail bartending experience in a good restaurant, cocktail bar or quality independent hospitality business.
- Has strong knowledge of classic cocktails.
- Understands balance, dilution, temperature and consistency.
- Is comfortable working with batched and pre-prepared cocktail components.
- Can follow detailed specifications accurately.
- Understands the importance of preparation and mise en place.
- Works cleanly and keeps an exceptionally organised bar.
- Is confident working at pace during a busy service.
- Has some knowledge of wine and spirits and wants to develop it further.
- Is warm, personable and comfortable talking to guests.
- Works well as part of a restaurant team rather than seeing the bar as a separate department.
- Notices problems and deals with them.
- Has high standards without unnecessary ego.
- Is reliable and available consistently on Friday and Saturday evenings.
- Wants to keep learning and improving.
We are looking for somebody with genuine cocktail experience, but we do not expect you to arrive already knowing our recipes or techniques.
Full training will be provided on the Ajé cocktail programme, alongside continual development in spirits, wine, sherry, food and service.
What matters is having good foundations, technical curiosity and the discipline to make drinks consistently well.
What we offer
- A dedicated Friday and Saturday evening cocktail position.
- The opportunity to be part of a new independent restaurant from opening.
- A cocktail programme built around proper technique and high-quality ingredients.
- Continual cocktail, spirits, wine and service training.
- Shared tips throughout the team, distributed according to hours worked.
- Staff discount across Ajé.
- Free yoga classes or discounted studio membership.
- Workplace pension where applicable.
- 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.
We want the bar to have personality, but never theatre for the sake of it.
The drinks should be excellent, the service should feel natural and the person behind the bar should care equally about both.
If you love cocktails, take pride in your craft and want to work two focused evening services each week as part of an ambitious independent restaurant, we’d like to hear from you.
Please apply with your CV and a short introduction telling us a little about yourself, where you’ve worked, your cocktail experience and why Ajé interests you.
Pay: £12.71-£13.50 per hour
Work Location: In person
