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

Who are First Steps Nutrition Trust and what do we do?

We are a small, independent public health nutrition charity, founded in 2011. We’ve achieved a lot with a little and become an established and respected source of expertise on early years nutrition across policy and practice. At a time of ongoing change and challenges in the UK both economically and politically, we are seeking to make our funding sustainable and to ensure our work continues to add value and be impactful.

Our goal is for all children in the UK to eat well from the start of life (preconception to age five), helping reduce high levels of overweight, obesity and dental decay. Our two main work streams are:

• Policy: Influencing policies to enable the safe, appropriate and optimal feeding of infants and young children in the UK, and to protect them from commercial interest
• Practice: Provision of expert, independent information and resources for health workers, other early years professionals and parents, to supporting eating well

What impact are we having?

Please see our 2025 infographic and 2024 report here: Impact — First Steps Nutrition Trust

What skills, experience and character traits are we looking for?

We are seeking to expand our board through appointing up to three new trustees, to take on the roles of Chair, Treasurer and/or Fundraising trustee, or a role that combines elements of these roles as described below.

These roles will help guide First Steps through this period of transition to a more diversified and substantial income base, funding a scope of work that adds value in the changing context and maximises our impact. We seek to ensure sustainability of the charity into the future.

Joining the First Steps board will give you the opportunity to support a unique, well-liked and impactful charity that punches above its weight, providing sector leadership on early years nutrition.

Key responsibilities of the Chair of Trustees

• To provide leadership to the Board in collaboration with the Director, and to ensure that the Board members fulfil their duties and responsibilities for the proper governance of the charity 
• To support and where needed to challenge the Director and to ensure that the Board works in partnership with the executive staff 

To secure the long-term future of the charity by ensuring that: 

• The Board sets the mission, vision, strategy, and high-level policies for the organisation 
• The Board takes steps to monitor the performance of the organisation and to ensure that it  

satisfies all regulatory and legal compliance requirements and identifies and mitigates risks  

• The organisation’s continued financial stability is ensured and financial dealings are  

systematically accounted for, audited and made publicly available   

• The Board evaluates and continuously develops its performance, composition and structure to optimise its effectiveness 

Specific duties: 

• Charing meetings, facilitating discussion 
• Ensure Board decisions are communicated effectively 
• Improving governance 
• Representation 

Working with the Director 

• Lead the Board in fulfilling its line management responsibilities of the Director 
• Meeting with the Director regularly to discuss issues and provide feedback from the Board  

We hope to recruit someone who can demonstrate experience of and skills in the following: 

• Organisation/business management and small organisation/business growth 
• Charity governance 
• Creative thinking, and the ability to shape strategy 
• Some awareness of the wider sector First Steps works in, and ideally an established network  
• Ability to exercise good, independent judgement and work effectively with the board 
• Strong interpersonal, communication and team working skills including the ability to listen, challenge, make decisions, and build consensus 
• Willingness and ability to understand and accept the responsibilities and liabilities of a trustee and to act in the best interests of the organisation 

Key responsibilities of the Treasurer

• To support and advise the Director in her financial reporting and forecasting to the board and oversight of and strategic management of the charity’s finances.
• To support and advise the Administrator in her management of the charity’s finances, including ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
• To oversee the preparation and scrutiny of annual accounts.
• To liaise with professional advisers where utilised.
• To help the other trustees carry out their financial responsibilities

We hope to recruit someone who can demonstrate experience of and skills in the following:

• Accounting and financial management in the charitable sector.
• Creative thinking, and the ability to shape strategy.
• Some awareness of the wider sector First Steps works in, and ideally an established network.
• Ability to exercise good, independent judgement and work effectively with the board.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and team working skills including the ability to listen, challenge, make decisions, and build consensus.
• Willingness and ability to understand and accept the responsibilities and liabilities of a trustee and to act in the best interests of the organisation.

Applicants must have:

• An accounting qualification and accreditation with a professional body 

Key responsibilities of the Fundraising trustee

To support and advise the Director in her fundraising for the charity, including: 

• Identifying potential donors and income sources 
• Preparing funding applications and pitches 
• Developing strategic approaches to funding and fundraising 
• Meeting with donors / customers and representation of the charity alongside the Director 
• Liaising with fundraising and business development consultants when utilised 

We hope to recruit someone who can demonstrate experience of and skills in the following: 

• Fundraising, including from trusts and foundations. 
• Creative thinking, and the ability to shape the charity’s strategic approaches to income generation and ensuring sustainability of funding. 
• Risk management, including managing conflicts of interest in funding. 
• Some awareness of the wider sector First Steps works in, and ideally an established network.  
• Ability to exercise good, independent judgement and work effectively with the board. 
• Strong interpersonal, communication and team working skills including the ability to listen, challenge, make decisions, and build consensus. 
• Willingness and ability to understand and accept the responsibilities and liabilities of a trustee and to act in the best interests of the organisation.  

All applicants must have: 

• Alignment and passion for our vision: a UK where all children are better enabled to eat well, through better information and support for good nutrition and good food from pre-conception to five years, in an environment that provides adequate legal protections.   
• Enthusiasm and a strong commitment to First Steps mission and values. 

We are looking for someone who will bring energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to this role, and who will add to the diversity of thinking on our board. We would welcome applications from interested individuals of all ages and backgrounds, particularly people of colour, with a disability and from across the U.K. as we want our board to represent the UK’s diverse workforce and population.

What is the time commitment?

• Fulfilling the duties of a trustee requires on average approximately 1 day a month. Time commitments include reviewing and signing off on a short monthly report, and preparing for and participating in routine, quarterly board meetings of 2 hours. Routine board meetings are online with a minimum of one annual half day in-person meeting in London.
• As a small charity, there will be times when the trustees will need to be actively involved beyond board meetings. This may involve scrutinising board papers, leading discussions, providing advice and guidance on new initiatives or specific issues and presenting externally.
• Board members are appointed for an initial period of 3 years in line with First Steps Governance document.

Is the role remunerated?  

In line with Charity Commission guidance, we do not pay our trustees but do refund reasonable expenses for trustees to enable them to fulfil their role on the board.

Application information

To be considered, please submit your CV and a one page covering letter to admin@firststepsnutrition.org by March 17th 2026. Interviews will take place online or in person the weeks of April 6th and 13th.  We would like the successful candidate to be available to attend our next scheduled meeting in May in person at our London office.

Our Director Dr Vicky Sibson and current Chair of Trustees Rob Percival are available for informal discussions with anyone interested prior to application. Email vicky@firststepsnutrition.org to make an appointment.

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs