Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Job description

• Hours/term: 15-21 hours per week, from June 2024 until 31st March 2025 with the possibility of extension to end July 25 (funding dependent)
• Location: Home-based within reasonable travel distance from Bristol (regular meetings in Bristol)
• Salary range: £28,250-31,258 pro-rata
• Holiday: 28 days annual leave per year (pro-rata), including 8 bank holidays
• Benefits: Company Pension - 3% company contribution, min. 5% employee contribution
• Flexible Working Options: flexible working hours, flexi-time
• Reports to: General Manager

About Bristol Food Network

Bristol Food Network (BFN) supports, informs and connects stakeholders across Bristol who have an interest in making our food system more sustainable, just and resilient. We are a Community Interest Company (CIC) and have been engaging and working with food systems stakeholders in the city for over a decade. 

We have coordinated significant projects and campaigns including our current focus - Bristol Good Food 2030, Bristol’s Silver and Gold Sustainable Food Places Awards; the Bristol Independents campaign to support the local food economy and the annual Get Growing Trail which opens up community growing spaces across the city to the public.

We are a small team delivering a wide range of food systems work. The team currently comprises a General Manager, Comms & Engagement Coordinator, Content Coordinator and Partnership Coordinator.  The organisation has a Board of five voluntary Directors, one of whom is also the General Manager.

Role Purpose

• To co-ordinate and support the Bristol Good Food 2030 Partnership of key actors who can deliver change in line with the 2024 Action Plans and 2030 Framework for Action.
• To develop and deliver projects owned by Bristol Food Network with the 2024 Action Plans and as agreed with BFN’s General Manager

Main Duties:

Partnership Coordination

• Convene and co-ordinate the BGF2030 Partnership - bringing together key stakeholders from all sectors in a formal set up which is inclusive and diverse.
• Maintain a highly effective working partnership that has the knowledge and expertise to think strategically, that it is collaborative and coordinated around a shared vision and actions, and that reflects the breadth of disciplines required for a sustainable food system. 
• Responsible for the effective management and delivery of Steering Group and Working Group meetings – maximising the value of the meetings for stakeholders and the food systems impact they deliver.
• In conjunction with the General Manager, coordinate development of a new Action Plan for 2025/2026.

Organisation & Project Management

• Undertake the scheduling, agenda setting/minute-taking and IT set up for regular virtual, face to face and hybrid meetings.
• Utilise effective project management systems, maintaining regular reporting to funders and the BFN board.
• Manage programme governance and structure.
• Monitor performance against BGF2030 indicators and actively share and use this insight to improve the effectiveness of BGF2030 delivery and the Partnership.
• Support and facilitate, as agreed with General Manager and the Partnership, programmes of activity led by Working Groups or key stakeholder organisations.
• Manage delivery of the 2024 Action Plan, including delivery of projects owned by Bristol Food Network.
• Support BFN fundraiser and partners in identifying and developing fundraising applications to support delivery of BGF2030 as required.

Representation, Networking & Advocacy

• Represent the Partnership at key strategic city-wide meetings, e.g. One City Gatherings
• Act as the main representative of the BGF2030 Partnership and its Action Plans by advocating and promoting them externally.
• Represent Bristol within the Sustainable Food Places network, actively sharing learning and good practice.
• Work with BGF2030 Comms team to develop and deliver a plan to raise awareness amongst wider stakeholders across the food system and in all sectors of the city, of the BGF2030 ambitions.
• Ensure work remains aligned to and influences the development of other city strategies and initiatives as e.g. Bristol’s One City Plan, the Climate Change Strategy and Ecological Emergency Strategy and the Food Equality Strategy.

Person Specification

Essential Knowledge & Experience:

• Knowledge of sustainable food systems, including climate/ecological/public health impacts related to food.
• Developing and delivering projects involving multiple, diverse stakeholders, ideally within food systems work and/or in partnership with the public sector.
• Building networks and relationships across a diverse range of stakeholders
• Establishing and managing effective project management systems
• Effectively engaging stakeholders in new ideas and projects

Desirable:

• Experience working within Bristol’s food system
• Experience working with CRM systems an advantage
• Experience working in the third sector
• An understanding of key policy issues relating to food systems
• Experience of data collection and analysis

Skills, knowledge and abilities:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage and communicate effectively with different audiences – from senior public and private sector staff to community based, grassroots organisations.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office, able to produce well-structured reports and presentations.
• Able to actively seek out, develop and maintain strong working relationships.
• Well-organised and able to manage multiple pieces of work at once
• Confident in communicating new and/or complex ideas to stakeholders
• Strategic thinker with the ability to identify links between stakeholders’ work and spot opportunities for new initiatives that improve Bristol’s food system
• Excellent attention to detail

Values and behaviours:

• Ability to work on own initiative, meet objectives and tight deadlines
• Determination, the ability to adapt and problem solve
• Values high quality work and strives for continual improvement
• A commitment to equality, diversion and inclusion
• An understanding of, and sympathy with, Bristol Food Network’s values, vision and mission
• Ability to work effectively within a team as well as alone

www.bristolfoodnetwork.org and www.bristolgoodfood.org

Application information

• Please send a CV (maximum 2 pages), and covering letter (maximum 2 pages) to recruitment@bristolfoodnetwork.org by 23.59 on 8th May.
• Please complete an Equal Opportunities Monitoring form and return this with your application.

Tips on writing a strong application:

• Provide specifics examples of previous work, study or personal activities undertaken to demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the job requirements
• Make sure you tell us why you want the job
• Do apply even if you don’t meet 100% of the criteria – so long as you can demonstrate relevant skills and passion, we’d like to hear from you.

Interview process:

• Interviews are expected to be held in person during the weeks commencing 13th and 20th May. We can accommodate virtual interviews if necessary. 
• Interviews will include a short task, which we will ask candidates to prepare in advance.
• We are happy to consider reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and will ask successful applicants about this prior to interview.

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs