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

WE'RE LOOKING FOR DIRECTORS 

Help shape the future of The Shared Plate 

A little about us 

The Shared Plate brings people together around food. Our shoulder to shoulder community programmes in Swansea help people build skills, confidence, connection and wellbeing, supported by our ethical catering business, which cooks seasonal feasts for weddings, celebrations and workplaces. We are a Community Interest Company: every event we cater funds a community programme, helping create greater access to good food, shared learning and positive change. 

Why now 

Since 2018 The Shared Plate has been led by its founder. We are now building our first full board so that the organisation can stand on its own. Between now and March the new board will take on oversight of finance, fundraising, people and risk, and the founder will move into a smaller role focused on programmes and strategy. This is an active director role with real responsibility, and the first six months will be busy. In return you will shape an organisation with a proven approach, a kitchen of its own, partners including Swansea Council, NHS Wales and Diabetes UK and a two-year strategic plan ready to be delivered. 

WE'RE LOOKING FOR … 

Three to Four directors, including a Chair. Between us we need to cover: 

• Finance - someone comfortable reading management accounts, setting a reserves policy and asking hard questions about money. This is the seat we most need to fill. 

• Fundraising and commissioning - experience of grants, trusts or public sector contracts in Wales, and the contacts that go with it. 

• People and employment - HR, contracts and safeguarding, so that we employ people properly as the team grows. 

• Food, hospitality or small business - someone who knows what a good kitchen and a fair price look like. 

• Education, youth work or health - so that our programmes for schools, EOTAS learners, older men and women's health are shaped by people who know those worlds. 

• Lived experience - at least one director who has taken part in one of our programmes or lives in the neighbourhoods we work in. We will support you to take up the role and pay any costs of doing so. 

Most directors will bring more than one of these. You do not need to tick every box, and you do not need to have sat on a board before; we will provide induction and support. We are looking for people who believe in what we do; that everyone deserves good food, have something valuable to bring to the table and are prepared to take responsibility for making that happen.  

WHAT IT INVOLVES 

This is a voluntary role, registered as a company director at Companies House, with the legal responsibilities that go with that. We pay travel and care expenses. The board meets quarterly in Mumbles, with an online option, and each director takes a lead on one area between meetings, so expect around a day a month, more in the first six months. Once a year, the board shares a meal cooked by programme participants and hears directly from them about the impact of our work. Initial term three years. 

We don't have all the answers, and that's where you come in. 

We're looking for passionate directors who can help us think bigger, challenge our ideas, open doors and shape a sustainable future for The Shared Plate. 

Application information

Contact Niaomh on nconvery@thesharedplate.co.uk for an informal conversation or send a short note or CV telling us about yourself and why you want to join.

Closing date; 6th December 2026 we aim to have the board in place by December 2026. 

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs