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

Salary

£40,000 per annum (full-time equivalent)

Contract

Fixed term - 18 months, subject to final confirmation of funding

Hours

Full time (37 hours per week)

Location

Hybrid — home-based with regular travel across Kent

Accountable to

KFP Steering Group Chair

Employed by

Kent Food Partnership CIC

Closing date/ Interview date

Closing: 17:00, 15th October 2026; Interview date 23rd October - in person in Canterbury

 

About Kent Food Partnership

Kent Food Partnership (KFP) is a county-wide, cross-sector partnership on a mission to create a diverse and inclusive food environment in which all Kent's citizens and visitors can access and know about good, healthy and affordable food — sustainably grown, produced, processed, distributed, sold and served — boosting the local economy, creating a sense of community and protecting the environment.

Established in 2022 and incorporated as a Community Interest Company in 2026, KFP brings together organisations from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, higher education, NHS, local government, farming, food production and independent retail under a shared food strategy. The Partnership is structured around five thematic working groups — Good Food Movement, Healthy Food for All, Sustainable Food Economy, Catering and Procurement, and Food for the Planet — governed by a Steering Group.

KFP is a member of the national Sustainable Food Places network. This coordinator role is KFP's first employed post: a genuinely exciting opportunity to help build something new, with real breadth of scope and the backing of a committed and expert steering group.

 

The Role

This is a pivotal moment for KFP. The Partnership has a fully developed food strategy, working groups, a growing network of member organisations, and a pipeline of developing projects. What it needs now is coordination: someone who can connect the dots, grow the membership, manage our public presence, support delivery of funded projects and represent KFP to a wide range of partners.

As Partnership Coordinator you will be KFP's first member of staff and its operational heartbeat. There are likely to be two priority projects:

1. Feasibility study mapping Kent Downs farmers and buyers to test the viability of a local supply chain model linking farm-fresh produce to public sector and social retail buyers. Includes farmer engagement, cost of production analysis, price gap analysis, wholesaler proposition development and a capital investment proposal.
2. Establish a school food community of practice connecting schools to community growing spaces and farms and to local procurement opportunities, as well as connecting them to other schools transitioning to adopt new school food standards and improve food throughout the school day.

 

Both projects are governed by KFP's Steering Group, and the coordinator will need to hold both strands of work alongside their broader partnership-building responsibilities. The role requires someone who is genuinely self-motivated and comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy — the post-holder will need to show initiative, manage competing priorities without close supervision and take ownership of their work as KFP's sole member of staff.

 

Key Responsibilities

1. Partnership coordination and governance

• Coordinate the day-to-day operations of KFP.
• Support the Steering Group
• Support KFP's five thematic working groups, facilitating meetings, capturing outputs and ensuring their work connects coherently to KFP's overall strategy and funded projects.
• Represent KFP at relevant meetings, networks and events, including the national Sustainable Food Places network.

2. FIPL feasibility project delivery

• Lead project management of the Kent Downs FIPL feasibility study, working to the project plan and budget agreed
• Carry out farmer and buyer mapping and engagement including desk research, database building, survey design and administration, visits and interviews, and organisation and facilitation workshops.
• Coordinate and support external specialist consultant
• Manage communications and dissemination including KFP website updates, stakeholder communications and production of the final feasibility report.
• Plan and manage the end-of-project event bringing together farmers, buyers, social retail operators, public sector representatives and funders.

3. Building a connected food community

• Manage the KFP website
• Map and maintain a live directory of member organisations and lead a structured outreach programme to grow KFP's membership
• Establish and develop a Kent school food community of practice
• Coordinate KFP's events programme

4. Communications and public presence

• Develop and deliver KFP's communications across digital channels — website, newsletter and social media
• Produce resources, case studies and impact stories that make the case for food partnership working and celebrate Kent's food community.
• Support KFP's engagement with national networks and policy debates where relevant to the Partnership's strategic objectives.

5. Fundraising and project development

• Support the development of funding applications across the KFP partnership
• Manage financial monitoring and reporting across funded projects, reporting regularly to the Steering Group.

 

Person Specification

Essential

• Experience of partnership, network or community development work — convening diverse stakeholders, building relationships and facilitating collaboration across sectors.
• Experience of project management, including workplans, budgets and reporting to funders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to write clearly and engagingly for a range of audiences — from funding applications to public-facing content.
• Experience of digital communications: website management, newsletters and social media. Confidence with google suite.
• Excellent organisational skills: able to manage a varied workload independently, prioritise effectively and meet deadlines across multiple concurrent projects.
• A self-starter with a high level of initiative and the confidence to work independently: able to manage competing priorities, make decisions and take ownership of delivery without close day-to-day supervision.
• Genuine passion for good food, food justice and sustainable food systems.
• Knowledge of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.
• Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, and to ensuring KFP's work reaches communities experiencing the greatest disadvantage.
• Ability to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends, and to travel regularly across Kent.
• Full, current driving licence and access to your own vehicle, or an equivalent means of travelling regularly and reliably across the county to meet with partners, attend community events and carry out farm visits.

Desirable

• Experience of working within or alongside a food partnership, sustainable food network or similar cross-sector initiative.
• Knowledge of the Sustainable Food Places framework.
• Understanding of public health frameworks for addressing health inequalities, including the Marmot principles.
• Experience of community mapping tools (e.g. Plinth).
• Experience of agricultural or food supply chain research, stakeholder engagement with farmers and/or food businesses, or rural/agri-food policy.
• Experience of working with the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme or similar agri-environment funding.
• Understanding of food procurement and local supply chains in a Kent or South East context.
• Experience of grant writing and funder relationship management.

Application information

To apply, please send a CV (maximum 2 pages) and a covering letter (maximum 2 pages) setting out how your experience matches the person specification and what draws you to this role, to: kentfoodpartnershipoffice@gmail.com

Closing date: 5pm on 15th October

Interviews will be held in person in Canterbury on October 23rd.

KFP is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We particularly encourage applications from people with lived experience of food insecurity or from communities currently underrepresented in food partnership and VCSE sector roles.

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs