Careers at Albedo's Return | Houston
Build a career doing work that actually matters.
We clean the kitchen exhaust systems that keep Houston restaurants safe, compliant, and open. Hands-on work. Paid training from your first job. Mostly evening schedules. No experience required.
Why this work exists
Every restaurant kitchen breathes through its exhaust system.
Grease builds up in hoods, filters, ducts, and rooftop fans every hour a kitchen runs, and built-up grease is serious fire fuel. Cleaning those systems to the current NFPA 96 standard is skilled, essential work. When you do it well, a restaurant stays safe, passes its inspections, and stays open.
That is what you are part of here. Not a mop-and-bucket job: fire-safety work that a business depends on. See what the service covers.
Is this you?
We hire for character. The craft can be taught.
You may fit here if...
- You like seeing a physical result at the end of a job
- You care whether something is done right, not just done
- You show up when you say you will
- You can take instruction without ego
- You like working with a small, tight team
- You are comfortable with physical, hands-on work
- Evening work fits your life better than a 9-to-5
- You have another job, school, family, or a professional background, and want work that can run alongside it
This probably isn't for you if...
- You are mainly looking to make money as fast as possible
- People can't count on you to show up
- Ego comes before the team
- Rushing to finish matters more to you than getting it right
- You want to stay at a desk
No hard feelings either way. We would rather stay a small, excellent crew than become a big, careless one.
A night on the job
What an evening with the crew actually looks like.
Most jobs start after the kitchen closes. A crew of two to three works the system end to end, and the job is done when it is right, not when the clock says so.
Arrive and prep
Load in, walk the kitchen, set up equipment and lighting.
Protect the kitchen
Cover and seal the cookline and surfaces so the kitchen is spotless when we leave.
Clean the system
Hood, baffle filters, accessible duct run, and the rooftop fan, worked back to bare metal.
Check the work
Walk the system again. If it needs another hour to be right, it gets the hour.
Document before and after
Photos of every accessible section, so the owner and the inspector can see the standard met.
Leave it ready
Kitchen clean, system inspection-ready, service sticker on the hood.
The honest part
This is real work. We won't pretend otherwise.
It is physical. It involves grease, degreaser, and steam. Most jobs run in the evening, some late. Some days you are in a kitchen; some nights you are on a roof.
- Physical, hands-on work
- Grease is the whole point
- Mostly evenings, some days and weekends
- Rooftop fan work on many jobs
- Travel around Houston
- Crews of two to three
- Jobs scheduled with 48+ hours notice
- Safety gear, every job
Quality matters more here than racing to finish. That is company policy, not a poster.
A fan wheel from a real Houston job. This is what your work will look like.
Training and tools
You learn a trade. On real jobs. Paid.
You do not need kitchen exhaust experience to start here. You need to show up and take the work seriously; the craft is taught hands-on, alongside the crew, from your first paid training job.
What you learn
- Equipment, setup, and safe work in commercial kitchens
- Cleaning technique, to the bare-metal standard
- Before-and-after documentation done properly
- The quality bar, and how to know when a job is actually done
- Working as a crew and communicating like a professional
- The NFPA 96 standard behind everything we do
What we provide
- All equipment, tools, and supplies
- Paid on-site training
What you bring
- Reliable transportation
- Your safety basics: closed-toed slip-resistant shoes, eye protection, a respirator mask, and a headlamp
- Pride in your work. A background check is required.
Your path here
A ladder, not a dead end.
Compensation is hourly and competitive, training is paid, and pay grows as you move up. We talk specifics during the interview process.
Houston is home to more than 10,000 restaurants, in a dining scene that keeps growing, and fire code requires every one of those kitchens to have its exhaust system cleaned on a recurring schedule. This is steady work in a field with room to build a future.
KEC Technician
Learn the craft, work the jobs, build the standard into your hands.
Associate KEC Technician
More responsibility on the crew, stronger command of the system.
Lead KEC Technician
Run jobs, set the bar, help train the next technician.
Operations & Sales Leadership
Where Albedo is heading: a role for someone who can run jobs, lead technicians, and help grow the business.
The operations and sales leadership path is where strong team members and experienced operators can raise their hand as Albedo's Return grows. No promises about timelines; the opportunity is real and it is earned.
From the founder
Why Ann is building this team
"I want techs to show up. I don't care if they have minimal experience. I can teach them on the job. They just have to show they take pride in their work."Ann Tran, founder and owner, from her own hiring notes
Ann isn't hiring bodies to fill shifts. She is building a small, strong crew of people whose work she can put her name on: people with integrity, who communicate, who treat skilled work with the respect it deserves. Technicians who stay here stay because their work is respected and appreciated, and because they are treated like part of the team, not a number.
How to apply
One short message starts the conversation.
- Reach out. Use the form here, or email us directly. No resume polish needed; just tell us who you are and why this work interests you.
- Ann reads it herself and normally replies within a week.
- A short phone conversation so we can meet each other.
- Paid on-site training jobs with the crew, then a probationary run of real jobs while you learn the standard.
Quick answers
Do I need experience? No. Show up, take pride, be willing to learn.
When are jobs? Mostly evenings, some days and weekends, with 48+ hours notice.
How long is a job? Plan on several hours; we take the time to do it right.
How does pay work? Hourly and competitive, paid training, more as you advance. Specifics at the interview.
Prefer email? Write to HoustonKECJobs@gmail.com