Hospitality Jobs in San Jose, CA

The best government anchor is the broad San Jose food preparation and serving group: $23.52 mean hourly in May 2025, versus $17.86 nationally, and annual 2025 pay for the broader SOC 35-0000 family was $44,870 at the median and $48,930 at the mean. Proxy postings tell a split story: hourly roles center on about $20 to $22 / hour, while salaried postings center on about $78k to $92k.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 299 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $41,694 at the 25th percentile, $48,880 at the median and $55,619 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

Open all in AI Job Search

What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

San Jose is a usable market right now for hospitality and food-service job seekers, but it is not an easy-money market. Metro leisure and hospitality employment reached 107.3 thousand in August 2026, up 2.0932% year over year, while metro unemployment was 4.3%. We observed more than 650 local postings across more than 200 companies over the last 90 days, and hiring in the sample was fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. The catch is that pay is mixed: local hospitality wages run above national averages, but much of the market is still entry-level, on-site, and lower paying relative to San Jose living costs.

Best positioned: Candidates with open schedule availability and hands-on experience in cash handling, food preparation, food safety, inventory management, or beverage preparation have the best odds, especially in on-site roles.

Main caution: Do not mistake manager-heavy posted salary bands for typical hourly pay; hourly postings center on about $20 to $22 / hour even as some salaried postings center on about $78k to $92k.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 340 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Compass Group: 43 open roles
2. Bon App Tit Management Company: 22 open roles
3. Oakmont Senior Living: 14 open roles
4. Eurest USA: 10 open roles
5. Entegra: 8 open roles
6. Brinker: 6 open roles
7. Coury Hospitality: 6 open roles
8. Merrill Gardens: 6 open roles
9. Urban Plates: 6 open roles
10. Aramark Corporation: 5 open roles

Where the openings are

• San Jose: 81
• Santa Clara: 59
• Sunnyvale: 38
• Redwood City: 21
• Mountain View: 18
• Palo Alto: 16
• Cupertino: 14
• Pleasanton: 12

Work arrangement

on-site 317 (100%), hybrid 1 (0%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is spread across a long list of employers rather than a single dominant chain. Over the last 90 days, we observed more than 650 postings across more than 200 companies, and the sample was fragmented across employers. The clearest named anchors were Starbucks Corp. with more than 75 postings and Compass Group with more than 40, which points to steady demand in café/retail beverage work and contract food-service operations. Industry mix shows where to search first: hospitality accounted for about 30% of sampled postings, retail about 25%, restaurants about 20%, and food and beverage services about 10%. Hotel and venue demand also improved locally: downtown San Jose and airport-area hotels posted 74.1% occupancy in August 2026, up 11.9% year over year, while RevPAR reached $143.50, up 16.1%. Hotel De Anza also added Hedley Club and Palm Court in September, and Tejer is planned there for December with a Cal-Mexican concept centered on seafood platters, barbacoa, salsa macha, fermented chile sauce, and moles. The evidence is much stronger for food service, lodging, and guest-facing operations than for travel-office roles, so most job seekers should search this market as a hotel, restaurant, café, banquet, and institutional-food-service market first.

• Hotels and venue food-and-beverage (high): Front desk, housekeeping, banquet, bar, and hotel restaurant roles look supported by stronger local hotel occupancy and revenue, plus new venue activity at Hotel De Anza.
• Café and retail beverage (high): This is one of the clearest volume paths locally, led by Starbucks-style hiring and skill demand around cash handling, beverage preparation, and customer service.
• Contract and institutional food service (high): Compass Group's presence suggests meaningful demand for reliable on-site food service tied to inventory management, food safety, and repeatable operations.
• Independent and concept-driven restaurants (moderate): These roles can be attractive for cooks and servers with cuisine-specific experience, but the better odds go to candidates who can speak to prep discipline, volume execution, and concept fit.

Where to focus: Start with on-site hotel food-and-beverage, café/retail beverage, and contract food-service employers, then use that footing to move into better-paying lead, banquet, or chef-track roles.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail shift lead: Cash handling, inventory management, beverage preparation, and customer service transfer directly from the strongest local hospitality skill signals.
• Customer service representative: Customer service, communication, and problem-solving are portable from restaurant and guest-service work.
• Facilities or workplace experience coordinator: Guest-facing service, vendor coordination, and on-site operations map well from hotel, front-desk, and banquet experience.
• Leasing or property management assistant: Front-desk, concierge, and guest-service experience translates well into tenant communication, issue resolution, and appointment handling.

What postings ask for

• Food safety (table_stakes | immediate): Food safety appears in about 20% of local postings and sits alongside sanitation and safety-compliance requirements, making it one of the fastest credibility signals for kitchen and service candidates. Who: Anyone applying to prep, line, banquet, café, or supervisor roles.
• Food handler's card (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most commonly named certification in local postings, even though only about 5% explicitly list it, so having it removes a simple screening barrier. Who: Entry-level applicants, career switchers, and anyone returning after time away.
• Cash handling (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling shows up in about 25% of local postings, which makes it especially useful for café, counter-service, and retail-adjacent hospitality jobs. Who: Baristas, servers, hosts, cashiers, and anyone shifting from retail.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management appears in about 20% of postings and is one of the clearest signals that you can move beyond pure service into lead or assistant-manager work. Who: Mid-career candidates and entry-level workers trying to move up fast.
• Beverage preparation (differentiator | near-term): Beverage preparation is requested in about 15% of local postings and lines up with one of the metro's clearest volume-employer patterns. Who: Baristas, bartenders, and customer-service candidates who want quicker entry.
• Customer service (table_stakes | immediate): Customer service appears in about 15% of local postings and is reinforced by broader restaurant research highlighting it as a durable transferable skill. Who: Everyone in guest-facing roles, especially career switchers.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

The best government anchor is the broad San Jose food preparation and serving group: $23.52 mean hourly in May 2025, versus $17.86 nationally, and annual 2025 pay for the broader SOC 35-0000 family was $44,870 at the median and $48,930 at the mean. Proxy postings tell a split story: hourly roles center on about $20 to $22 / hour, while salaried postings center on about $78k to $92k. San Jose does pay above national hospitality averages, but the category is still described locally as among the lower-paying occupational groups, so "better than average" does not automatically mean financially comfortable in this metro.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA concentrated?

Real opportunity is spread across a long list of employers rather than a single dominant chain. Over the last 90 days, we observed more than 650 postings across more than 200 companies, and the sample was fragmented across employers. The clearest named anchors were Starbucks Corp. with more than 75 postings and Compass Group with more than 40, which points to steady demand in café/retail beverage work and contract food-service operations. Industry mix shows where to search first: hospitality accounted for about 30% of sampled postings, retail about 25%, restaurants about 20%, and food and beverage services about 10%. Hotel and venue demand also improved locally: downtown San Jose and airport-area hotels posted 74.1% occupancy in August 2026, up 11.9% year over year, while RevPAR reached $143.50, up 16.1%. Hotel De Anza also added Hedley Club and Palm Court in September, and Tejer is planned there for December with a Cal-Mexican concept centered on seafood platters, barbacoa, salsa macha, fermented chile sauce, and moles. The evidence is much stronger for food service, lodging, and guest-facing operations than for travel-office roles, so most job seekers should search this market as a hotel, restaurant, café, banquet, and institutional-food-service market first.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (75 postings), Compass Group (40 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

Browse California openings by job title

• Software Engineer: 960 open roles statewide
• General Manager: 528 open roles statewide
• Project Manager: 392 open roles statewide
• Product Manager: 379 open roles statewide
• Program Manager: 326 open roles statewide
• Technical Program Manager: 265 open roles statewide
• Senior Software Engineer: 206 open roles statewide
• Staff Software Engineer: 156 open roles statewide
• Engineering Manager: 146 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 129 open roles statewide
• Associate Director: 92 open roles statewide
• Senior Product Manager: 84 open roles statewide

Explore related openings

Hospitality, Food Service & Travel jobs in other metros

• Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
• Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
• Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
• Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
• Salt Lake City-Murray, UT
• Columbus, OH

Other roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

• Engineering & Scientific
• Software, IT & Cybersecurity
• Media, Journalism & Entertainment
• Finance & Accounting
• Legal, Compliance & Risk
• Manufacturing, Construction & Field Services
• Protective Services & Public Safety
• Education & Training

Browse all job openings | Browse jobs by title and state | Browse all job market reports