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.

Community Archive Manager

Healthy Me Healthy Communities
Manchester, Greater Manchester

Posted: 8 Dec 2025

Deadline: 20 Jan 2026

Compensation: £35,235 per year full time equivalent (point 25), actual £14,094 per year

Living Wage employer Disability Confident scheme

Paid Part-time Fixed term / contract

Job description

Gorton Together Heritage Programme 

Gorton Together is about capturing the community heritage, memories and experiences of a working-class social movement developed from and at Gorton Community Centre (now known as Gorton Central). From the 1930’s it was Johnstone’s paint factory and once vacated it fell into disrepair. In the 1960’s it was saved by a group of residents and since then it has been a community centre meeting the changing needs of residents in a deprived area of East Manchester. It is important to those involved and for the community to hear firsthand about a local social movement of a working-class community centre managed by an ever-evolving committee of residents meeting the ever-evolving needs of a deprived and diverse community.  

The Gorton Together Heritage Project will undertake an exciting community heritage engagement project and produce both physical and digital archives. 

Hours: 14 hours a week over 2-3 set days, including Monday and other days to be negotiated and confirmed between Tuesday - Friday. Core working hours 9am-5pm and this role may involve some evening work as defined by the programme delivery. 

Key responsibilities and duties:

• Leading and developing the gathering, collation and archiving of heritage items gathered during the programme, ensuring archival principles, practices, and standards are met.
• Train and support resident volunteers in developing and producing the archives, including physical, oral and digital.
• Work with the Gorton Together Project Manager to develop the project.
• Support the Project Manager with the planning and delivery of community archive activities.
• Support the Project Manager in the development of oral histories and digital training and sessions.
• Active participation in a Programme Advisory Board providing updates on the archive activities and advice and support for the programme.
• Working closely with Manchester City Council Archive Service ensuring the programme archive meets archival principles, practices, and standards.
• Supervise sessional workers and contract workers related to the archive activities.
• Developing effective partnerships and collaborations with project stakeholders including residents and volunteers.
• Complete programme monitoring, impact and social value reporting of the activities.
• Undertake other duties as required to meet the organisational needs.

For this post, successful candidates will need to demonstrate their skills and experience of the following criteria.

Essential criteria and we are seeking to appoint a skilled person with at least 1 year experience of the following:

• Archival knowledge and experience demonstrating understanding of archival principles, practices, and standards, with experience in handling, cataloguing, and preserving archival materials in a professional setting.
• Knowledge of community-led approaches to heritage and archiving, including oral histories, storytelling and heritage items-based work.
• Community engagement skills with a proven ability to build respectful, collaborative relationships with diverse communities, particularly underrepresented or marginalised groups, to support inclusive collecting and storytelling.
• Community facilitation skills with experience in co-producing projects or activities with community members, including outreach, consultation, and participatory approaches.
• Project and organizational skills including planning, scheduling, coordinating stakeholders, and meeting deadlines.

Along with:

• Digital competency with proficiency in using digital tools and platforms for archival cataloguing and digital preservation.
• Cultural and ethical competency and ethical Awareness of community-based archiving, including consent, protocols, and ownership of materials.
• Experience working with marginalised or excluded communities demonstrating an understanding of the barriers these communities may face in accessing heritage and cultural services.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust and foster long-term relationships with individuals, grassroots groups, and partner organisations.
• Good report writing skills.
• Good knowledge of IT packages including Microsoft Office, databases, email and social media.
• A good standard of education with evidence of professional development.

And all applicants must have entitlement to work in the UK at the point of the role commencing.

Application information

• Email your CV (maximum 2 pages of A4) and a statement outlining how you meet the requirement of the job description and person specification (maximum 2 pages of A4) to info@hmhc.co.uk by 10am Tuesday 20th January 2026. Please put Community Archive Manager as the email subject header.
• Interviews will be held in person at Gorton Central, Highmead Street, Gorton, M18 8PE on Monday 26th January 2026.
• For an informal chat about the role, please email Kate Harrison, Service and Business Manager on Kate@hmhc.co.uk to arrange.

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs