A kitchen brigade works according to a hierarchical structure, with the chef-de-cuisine  in charge at the top. While this chef needs to be an excellent cook, this position is more supervisory in nature, with the main responsibility being to ensure that everybody else knows what to do, and how to do it well. The chef de cuisine is often assisted by a sous-chef-de-cuisine  who performs many of the same duties – the sous-chef is essentially the second in command.

Each of the other positions in the brigade is filled by a chef that has been specially trained for a particular purpose. In most cases, these chefs will have an entire work station dedicated to carrying out their particular job. Some kitchens cross-train their chefs to be specialized in more than one type of job - this reduces the risk of having to rely on a single person to carry out a single job.

In total there may be between 5 and 15 professional chefs working in a kitchen. Leadership and teamwork are 2 critical skills that are required in getting everyone to work well together.