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

The Orchard Project is the only UK charity dedicated to bringing orchards into the heart of urban communities. Our vision is that everyone in urban areas is within walking distance of a community orchard. We believe community orchards transform lives and help nature to thrive, so we support people to create new orchards or restore existing ones back to health. Through urban orchards we help strengthen and connect communities, improve local green spaces for people and wildlife, train volunteers to learn new skills, run events and activities, and develop a local free source of healthy fresh fruit. See more about our impact on our website. 

We’ve been around since 2009 and have grown to become the country’s national community orchard charity. We have created and restored over 800 community orchards in that time and we run training programmes with adults and schools, orchard celebration events and run a cider and juice enterprise. 

We offer a range of benefits to our staff, which include; 

• Holiday allowance of 25 days FTE with flexible bank holiday usage and additional days off between Christmas and New Year 

• Time off in lieu offered for additional hours worked outside of standard working days 

• Flexibility around working days and hours, and the option to work from home, although some weekend working is required 

• Training opportunities for each staff member to address identified training and personal development needs 

• Pension contribution of 5% of salary 

• A flexible wellbeing budget of £45 per month to support an individual’s personal wellbeing (paid through payroll and subject to tax and NIC) 

 

Main purpose of the job 

This is a really exciting opportunity to join our team as we grow our delivery capacity to plant more community orchards in London in 2026-2027. The role is being offered as a 6 month fixed term contract. Project delivery elements of the role include community orchard planting, community and volunteer engagement, training delivery and running events. The orchard support and training that this post will be expected to provide for local community groups will include orchard planting, maintenance training, pruning and supporting groups with their own volunteer engagement. The Project Manager will ensure that the projects are being delivered on time, to budget and with consistent quality, with attention being paid to the requirements for monitoring, evaluation and administration. 

The Project Manager will work closely with community partners such as our delivery partner Earthwatch, two other project managers based in the region, our Head of Operations and Programmes (HOP) and the rest of our team based across the UK, to share good practice, develop peer-to-peer support and become an engaged member of our friendly and passionate team of 18 people.  

There may be the possibility of extending this contract beyond the 6 months period depending on fundraising success. 

Scope of Job (3 days a week):  

Project Management 

• Lead on the delivery of 4 planting projects in Lewisham and Islington and ensure that they are delivered on time, budget and to target 

• Manage purchasing and keeping track of the budget for the projects that you deliver capturing information that can be reported back to funders 

• Capture data about projects and input into our database for reporting and evaluation 

• Manage longer and shorter-term goals within your workload ensuring that all of your priorities are delivered 

Orchard planting and training with communities 

• Develop relationships with community groups and local residents associated with existing or potential orchard planting sites 

• Deliver The Orchard Project model of engagement, orchard design, orchard planting and aftercare to ensure the best chance of group and orchard sustainability 

• Organise and lead practical work-days with volunteers to plant and restore community orchards such as planting days, habitat creation, pruning work and other site improvement works  

• Recruit and train Orchard Leaders and other community volunteers to take an active role in looking after their orchards and sharing their skills with other members of the community 

• Work with orchard volunteers to organise community events  

• Promote events to increase community engagement, particularly to those from underrepresented groups 

• Provide ongoing support to orchard volunteers, including site visits, giving advice, delivering training and writing orchard management plans  

• Deliver training that supports groups to develop the skills needed to care for their orchard  

• Deliver additional orchard care and training sessions when needed as part of our consultancy programme 

Additional responsibilities:  

• Take part in relevant training and team meetings 

• Share best practice with partners and other staff 

• Any other reasonable organisational tasks appropriate to the running of a small charity  

 

Person Specification  

Experience in: 

• Managing projects of quality to deadline, to budget and with minimal supervision 

• Significant experience setting up and managing volunteer-led projects  

• Organising and managing events for the local community and larger regional events 

• Delivering training and workshops in relevant subjects 

• Developing and maintaining relationships with partners, community groups, local authorities and other stakeholders in the region. 

• Administration tasks needed to organise and track project delivery 

• Monitoring, evaluation and reporting to deadlines 

• Community engagement and working with a diverse range of people 

 

Knowledge and Skills: 

• A good level of horticultural and arboriculture knowledge and skills, particularly in relation to orchards and a desire to develop these skills further  

• Familiarity with environmental and community networks and groups in London 

• Knowledge of, and a proven interest in, environmental sustainability, sustainable food systems, and/or permaculture 

• Excellent oral, written and presentation skills 

• A high level of competence in Microsoft Word and Excel 

• Cultural sensitivity in building relationships and engaging people from diverse backgrounds 

 

Personal attributes and behaviours: 

• A passion for community orchards and a desire to share this with others 

• A pro-active approach to sharing learning with other staff and partners 

• An excellent advocate for the charity and the project 

• Passionate about the potential to transform communities in Swansea and improve the lives of individuals through the project 

• Preparedness to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in 

• Flexible and innovative in your approach to delivering projects 

Application information

To apply for this role, please send an equal opportunities form, anonymised CV*, your full CV and a cover letter explaining why you are excited about this opportunity and how your skills fit the role to orchard@theorchardproject.org.uk  by Midnight on Tuesday 3rd November. 

Interviews will be held on Tuesday 10th November. 

We want our organisation to be as diverse as the communities it supports. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability.  

If you have any questions about this role then you can contact abby@theorchardproject.org.uk, Head of Operations and Programmes in advance of the deadline. 

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. 

 

*Anonymised recruitment           

We are committed to attracting and employing the best candidate for the role. To ensure this, we operate anonymised recruitment prior to interview.   

When applying for this job, please send us an anonymised CV, a full CV and a completed Equality & Diversity form (which can be found on The Orchard Project website). The Equality & Diversity form will not be viewed by staff shortlisting candidates. Only details of your previous work experience, your qualifications and your written statements describing how you meet this role will be forwarded to those shortlisting for interview.  

In order to maintain anonymity during the shortlisting process, you will be required to submit two versions of your CV - one full version of your CV and a second CV where any personal information is removed. You should also check your covering letter to ensure it doesn’t contain any personal details, eg please don’t sign off with your name.  

For the anonymised copy, you should remove: 

• Your name 

• Your address 

• Your date of birth 

• Dates that any qualifications were received 

• Dates relating to any employment experience that was over 5 years ago 

• Places where qualifications were received (i.e. your school or university) 

• Your photograph 

• Your email address 

• Your telephone number  

• Any information which may give an indication of your age, nationality and ethnicity, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. 

You can anonymise your CV easily by adding XXX to information which you have removed. 

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs