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.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Job description

• Job title: Warehouse Coordinator
• Reports to: Senior Warehouse Manager
• Responsible for: Supervision of Warehouse Assistants and volunteers
• Location: Brighton, Sussex
• Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week)
• Length of contract: Permanent  
• Salary: Starting £25,868, (Band 16)

About FareShare Sussex & Surrey

We rescue surplus food from businesses, supermarkets and farms. This food is nutritious, in-date, and safe and includes a high proportion of fresh vegetables and fruit. If we did not rescue this food, it would be at risk of going to waste. Instead, we deliver it to charities, community kitchens, community pantries and fridges, food banks, schools and other organisations serving vulnerable people. Our food is a vital lifeline for children and families, people on low incomes, people who have lost their jobs, the homeless, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, the elderly and key workers.

We operate out of two sites; Guildford (Surrey) and Brighton (Sussex) as part of 35 Regional Centres, working as a network across the country with FareShare, a national charity. The Guildford warehouse is new and will enable us to receive, store and deliver more fresh, frozen, chilled and ambient food across the region.

Last year we delivered enough food for 2.4 million meals to help vulnerable people in our community. We receive and deliver around 80 tonnes of food every month, currently to 150 organisations including homeless shelters, community pantries, food banks, clubs, children’s centres and lunch clubs across the 3 counties. FareShare Sussex & Surrey (FSSS) also works to improve the lives of vulnerable volunteers through our successful employability scheme. City Gate Community Projects (registered charity 1093245) is the employer, delivery partner and franchise holder for FSSS.

Main purpose of this role

This is a great opportunity to be a key member of the  FareShare Sussex & Surrey warehouse in Brighton as we expand the team. It will include the day-to-day running of the busy operation, managing the ongoing deliveries in and out of the warehouse, supervising the warehouse team and supervising and supporting a team of volunteers from a range of backgrounds. It requires adherence to high service standards and compliance with policies and procedures. FareShare Sussex & Surrey is going through an exciting time of growth and the new warehouse coordinator will play a crucial role in supporting this expansion.

Duties and responsibilities

• Working with the Volunteer Manager to manage the volunteer rota and support the development and well-being of warehouse volunteers
• Ensure that high service standards are provided to our Community Food Members and Suppliers through effective service delivery and communication
• Deputise for the Senior Warehouse Manager when they are off-site. 

Operations

• To lead on the daily operational use of FareShare’s online warehouse software and travel planner to manage deliveries
• Managing the Brighton fleet (currently six vans and two cargo bikes) 
• Liaising with the Senior Warehouse Manager on key operational issues 

Compliance

• To support the Senior Warehouse Manager in the safe operation of the warehouse through proactive intervention, developing processes and implementing policies.   
• Adhere to relevant organisational and regulatory policies and procedures including, but not limited to, health and safety, fire safety, food hygiene, equal opportunities and safeguarding.
• Adhere to measures and actions as laid out in the organisations operational risk assessments  
• To ensure that the work environment is clean, organised and safe to work in, raising any maintenance issues with the Senior Warehouse Manager

Stock Control and food safety

• Responsible for daily warehouse tasks, including stock control, managing deliveries in and out, staff and volunteer supervision and effective record keeping.
• Monitoring of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
• Working with the local and national teams to ensure that FareShare Sussex & Surrey has sufficient food supply to run effectively

Person specification

As an employer committed to Equal Opportunities, we will assess applications in line with these criteria that we consider either as being essential or desirable for this post. Please explain in your cover letter how you meet the points in the Person Specification.

Essential Criteria 

• Working in a logistics or warehouse environment
• Full clean driving licence
• To be in good physical health with the ability to carry out regular manual handling tasks subject to training and health and safety restrictions
• An understanding of the importance of Food Safety and Health & Safety legislation
• Good numerical skills
• Strong verbal communication skills 
• Excellent organisation and administration skills to ensure daily operations are carried out safely and efficiently 
• Excellent attention to detail, comfortable using own initiative, managing priorities and workload.
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills, with a solution focus.
• IT literacy including word processing and database use   
• Able to foster a culture of fun, cooperation and togetherness
• Proactive, resilient, and able to work under pressure 
• To subscribe to the ethos, vision and mission of the organisation  
• Ability to work within a team of varied individuals with a positive attitude
• Able to demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities, inclusivity and diversity
• Willing and available to work outside normal working hours occasionally if required
• Willing to travel for training and personal development 
• Flexible availability to work between the hours of 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday (7.5 hours a day)
• Proof of the right to work in the UK

Desirable Criteria

• HACCP level 3
• IOSH Managing Safely 
• Experience of working with volunteers
• Working with vulnerable adults
• Counterbalance forklift licence
• Food Hygiene level 2
• Knowledge and experience with monitoring HACCP procedures with staff and volunteers
• Understanding of and ability to implement safeguarding policy and procedures.
• Supervision of staff and/or volunteers
• Committed to reducing food waste and fighting food poverty
• Experience of developing and nurturing a good team working culture

Benefits

• Ethical pension scheme
• Daily lunch provided
• Access to learning and development opportunities
• Access to Telus Health
• 33 days Annual Leave including all public bank holidays (Pro-rata for part-time employees)
• Staff-led wellbeing programme
• Flexible working
• Bike to work scheme

Safeguarding statement

FareShare Sussex & Surrey is committed to safeguarding and protecting the adults that we work with. As such, all posts are subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks. We ensure that we have policies and procedures in place which promote safeguarding and a safe working environment.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We want to be open to everyone. A diverse voice is a more powerful voice. Diversity in our people brings new viewpoints and this drives debate and creativity, which is key to success and an ability to engage new audiences. As such, we encourage applications from people who belong to groups which are often marginalised in society.

We strive to engage an ability-based workforce which reflects the diverse nature of our local communities. We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and it's important to us that this is reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us. We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities because we would like to increase the representation of these groups in the team. Please call or email if you’d like to chat about the FareShare Sussex & Surrey community in more detail.

Application information

Please send your CV, cover letter and completed equal opportunities forms to: recruitment@faresharesussexandsurrey.org.uk before 9am Monday 20th May 2024. Interviews will be conducted as suitable candidates apply ahead of the deadline. The role may therefore be filled ahead of the deadline.

The application pack can be accessed via https://faresharesussexandsurrey.org.uk/news 

For an informal chat about the role, please contact Nathan Catt, Head of Operations on 01273 671 111 (Option 3).

Further information about FareShare Sussex & Surrey can be found online at www.faresharesussexandsurrey.org.uk

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs