BBQ Pit Master

Pit Master Position

Build Texas's next great barbecue.

We are building one of the best barbecue programs in Texas. Not a country-club kitchen with a smoker out back. Not a banquet line cranking out brisket for weddings. A real, serious, honest program — and we are looking for the Pit Master who is ready to build it.

Horseshoe Bay Sporting Club sits on a legacy ranch in the Texas Hill Country — a private shooting club for members of The Club at Horseshoe Bay. We have the property, the budget, the membership demand, the team support, and the freedom to do this right. What we are looking for is the person who knows in their gut they could be one of the best in Texas if they had the right shot — and is ready to take it.

This is a foundational seat. The Pit Master we hire will build the program from the ground up — pits, menu, team, standards, identity. And the work spans two pits: the club program at HSBSC and an all-new destination barbecue spot at Horseshoe Bay Resort that you will help build from the ground up. Their name will be on it. Their voice will define it. And if it goes the way we plan, members and guests will drive from across Texas to eat what comes off this property.

"If we get this right, people drive in for the shooting and stay for the brisket."

The Role at a Glance

The Pit Master owns the barbecue program at Horseshoe Bay Sporting Club end to end — pits, meat, menu, team, standards, identity — and runs two distinct pit programs: the club program at HSBSC and an all-new destination barbecue spot at Horseshoe Bay Resort, built out with your direct involvement.

This is a creative leadership role with the daily reality of a working pit. You are not a banquet chef. You are not a kitchen manager. You are the person whose name and craft define what comes off the smokers at HSBSC, and whose hands are on the pits to make sure it stays that way.

This is a build-from-zero seat. There is no existing program to inherit, no menu to maintain, no team to manage. The pits, the smokehouse layout, the meat sourcing, the daily cook plan, the side program, the desserts, the service flow — all of that is yours to design with our full operational and capital support.

The Four Workstreams

This is a build seat first, an operating seat second. Year One is heavily weighted toward design, sourcing, hiring, and standing the program up. By Year Two, the rhythm shifts toward daily craft and continuous refinement.

01. The Pit Program

Pit Design & Build — Spec the smokers — wood, steel, capacity, configuration. We'll buy what you specify. If you have a builder you trust, we'll work with them. If you want offset stick burners, you get offset stick burners. If you want a custom rig, we'll build it.

Meat Sourcing — Own the relationships — direct ranchers, wholesale, dry-aging programs, regional partnerships. Quality starts upstream. The budget is there to do this right.

Cook Program — Daily smoke schedule, prep cycle, hold strategy, service-day choreography. You set the standards and the team executes against them.

Quality Standards — Bark, smoke ring, render, slice, presentation. The standard is whatever you say it is — and whatever you say has to hold up against the best in Texas.

02. Menu & Concept

Menu Architecture — Brisket and ribs are the spine — beyond that, the menu is yours. Sausage program, sides, breads, sauces, smoked specialties, seasonal features. We have opinions, but you have the pen.

Regional Voice — Central Texas, East Texas, German-Czech influence, modern Hill Country interpretation — wherever you take it, the voice should be coherent and yours. Don't try to be every BBQ joint at once.

Side Program — The truth is most BBQ programs lose to their sides. Ours won't. Hire and train for the sides like they're the entrée. Beans, slaw, potato salad, greens, breads — give them the same rigor.

Beverage Pairing — Coordinate with our Lead Bartender on beer and bourbon pairings. The smoke and the spirits should belong together.

03. Team & Training

Build the Line — Hire your own pit crew, prep team, and service line. We'll back you with recruiting support and competitive comp. Your standards, your hires, your culture.

Training Program — Document the standards. Train the team to your spec. Build a kitchen culture where the work is taken seriously and the people are taken care of.

Mentorship Track — If the right young pit cook comes through and wants to learn the trade, we want this to be a place where that happens. Apprenticeship is part of how the craft survives.

Hospitality Standard — Members will know your name and your team's names. The kitchen is part of the member experience, not separate from it. The bar we hold across the network: we are the best part of our members' day.

04. The Build-Out (Year One Focus)

Smokehouse Design — Work with our team and contractors to spec the smokehouse build — workflow, ventilation, prep stations, cold storage, service line. You know what you need to do the work right; we build to your spec.

Resort Destination Build — Take a direct hand in building out the all-new destination barbecue spot at Horseshoe Bay Resort — concept, pits, menu, and standards — working alongside the resort team. Two pits, one standard: yours.

Sourcing Infrastructure — Stand up the supplier relationships, the receiving cadence, the inventory system, the cost controls. Boring but essential.

Soft-Open & Iteration — Plan the first 90 days of service deliberately. Member previews, friends-and-family service, calibration of pace and pricing. Get the rhythm right before you scale it.

Identity & Story — Work with our Marketing Director (Ryan Schweke) on the program's voice and positioning. Your story is the program's story — we'll help you tell it well, but we won't speak for you.

Across All Four — The Standards That Don't Move

The Craft — We are not interested in shortcuts, gas-assist hacks, or wholesale brisket. Real wood, real time, real fundamentals. If you have to apologize for what's on the cutting board, it doesn't go on the cutting board.

The Team — Pit work is hard. The hours are real. We treat the crew well and we expect you to do the same.

The Culture — Be a good human. No politics. Ego stays at the gate. We are a team.

The Growth Path

Earn the Name

Most pit master jobs are static — you run the pits, you cash the check, you do it again next week. We don't see this seat that way. Rhythm is an early-stage company building a network of clubs across the Hill Country, and the right Pit Master is stepping into something with room to grow.

From this seat, the path forward is real — and we'll shape it together as the work unfolds. It is not promised. It is earned.

The Path Forward

Pit Master

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Named Pit Master of HSBSC

Build it, run it, earn it. Become the named Pit Master of HSBSC's program — your reputation tied to this property, this membership, this craft. The Texas BBQ press starts paying attention. Members travel to eat what you cook. Your name becomes the answer when people ask who's doing the best brisket in the Hill Country.

The path brings increased responsibility, recognition, and compensation as you grow into it. We don't promise it on Day One. We do promise to invest in the person who shows us they're ready.

The Person We're Looking For

We are not interested in résumés full of corporate kitchen titles. We are interested in pit time, hands, fire, and a body of work.

Real Pit Time — You've put in real years on real pits — whether that's as #2 at a flagship Texas joint, running your own program, or building a serious following on your own steam. You may not be the named name yet. You've got the chops to be.

Hungry to Build — You feel it in your gut: with the right platform