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

This role is a full-time (40 hrs/wk) 12-month contract position with extension possible subject to funding.

This role is an exciting opportunity for a passionate and organised person to join our growing charity, to support our Membership Programme Manager and the development of the Membership, in driving forward our mission to transform kids’ health through school food and food education.

This role is hybrid working with one regular weekly day at our office space in Brixton, London. Regular London & adhoc other UK travel means the role would not suit fully remote working.

Who we are

Chefs in Schools is a young, ambitious charity that’s rapidly growing. Our mission is to improve kids' health, through improving school food & food education. Working in areas of high deprivation, we support and train schools and their kitchen teams to serve the best, freshest and tastiest food possible, alongside meaningful food education. We share our learning and resources freely, aiming to inspire and enable others to follow our lead.

We’re backed by some of the biggest names in food and have ambitious targets to ensure every child has access to incredible school food and food education, setting them up for life with the skills and knowledge to feed themselves well.

About you and the role

This role is key to helping us grow and empower our school and chef partners through our Membership. You’ll work closely with the Programme Manager and Procurement Manager to improve the membership offering and build a strong community of schools, chefs, and suppliers.

Your work will be varied, from managing membership administration to building supplier relationships and helping with communication between schools and stakeholders. As the membership grows, you’ll work with the team to help improve the support, networks, and systems available to members. You’ll also help with ensuring suppliers meet safety standards, deliver great produce, and offer reliable service.

In addition, you’ll assist with organising our member events, from planning and logistics to coordinating attendees and making sure everything runs smoothly.

You will be a confident communicator who is happy gathering information from our team, suppliers and school chefs, with an ability to translate data for the continued improvement of the membership. The role will cover everything from basic administration tasks, to visiting schools, helping to create resources and supporting our procurement processes. 

The responsibilities, skills and experience listed below are intended to give you an idea of what we need for this role. If you don’t meet every requirement but feel you would be able to work with us to deliver the majority of them, we urge you to apply anyway. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and for us the most important ‘experience’ is passion for our mission. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, especially those from underrepresented communities, to apply.

We want to get to know you at the interview and understand we can do this best if you’re at ease. We’re an inclusive employer and work hard to create a welcoming working environment for everyone, including appointing a neurodiversity champion to help us identify how we can make our work environment work for everyone. If you need adjustments to the interview process please let us know.

Key responsibilities:

• Manage membership administration, including onboarding new members, staying in touch regularly, coordinating internal support for membership needs, and tracking renewals.
• Support the creation of resources, guides, and training materials for members.
• Assist with the planning and delivery of events, training days, and conferences for members and stakeholders. 
• Help grow the membership by contributing to its development, identifying new partners that align with our mission, and supporting our efforts to expand.
• Support the Procurement Manager with preparing and delivering compliant procurement processes, from drafting documents to reviewing submissions.
• Work alongside the Procurement Manager to build strong relationships with partner chefs, identify new suppliers, and understand produce requirements.
• Manage supplier relationships, including visiting suppliers, checking accreditations, conducting research, and ensuring due diligence.
• Gather, analyse, and report data to support and help grow the membership.
• Provide general administrative support for the membership team, such as organising meetings, booking rooms, and taking minutes.
• Proofread and format documents as required.
• All other tasks as reasonably required - we’re a supportive, collaborative team who are all unafraid to jump in and support each other when needed.

Essential skills & experience:

• You have an interest and belief in our mission, to improve kids' health through improving food and food education in schools.
• You are organised, methodical, strong on detail and data-driven
• You have experience managing a diverse workload and are able to map out deadlines and plan ahead.
• You have strong administrative skills and are comfortable managing processes, scheduling meetings, minute-taking, and formatting documents.
• You are a strong communicator with experience working with multiple stakeholders.
• You have the ability to listen, understand and interpret customer requirements 
• You are self-motivated, customer-focused and driven.
• You are confident using technology and are open to learning new digital systems and tools.
• You are passionate about food and want to make an impact.

Desirable:

• You have some experience planning events, training, or networking activities.
• You have some membership experience, including developing relationships and supporting membership needs.
• The ability to contribute to the creation of training materials or resources that add value to the membership programme.
• An understanding of the challenges and opportunities of working in school food and school catering work environments
• A basic understanding of food supply chains or the food industry, especially in schools and catering.
• Familiarity with data reporting tools, dashboards, or visualisation software
• Knowledge of procurement processes, including preparing tender documents, assessing suppliers, and carrying out due diligence.
• You are curious, keen to learn and enjoy problem solving.

Benefits

You would be joining a friendly, supportive team who works hard but believe in a healthy work/life balance. We seek a diverse range of perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge. Joining a small, collaborative team means you’ll be able to contribute to and draw on various projects and strategic insights.

We offer 33 days of holiday per year including bank holidays with 3 additional office closure days over the Christmas period, a Cycle to Work scheme, hybrid working, enhanced parental leave, and free access to the CODE app for discounted restaurants & hospitality venues. We are committed to developing our team and will support you with relevant training opportunities including £250 towards elective training and development of your choice.

We also offer Bupa Dental Insurance, Income Protection Insurance, as well as access to the Aviva Smart Health Platform which offers health benefits including free rapid access online GP appointments, free counselling and wellbeing support.

Application process

In line with our commitment to ensuring a fair and unbiased recruitment process, we invite candidates to answer a series of questions related to their day-to-day job. Please follow this link to answer the questions and submit your application along with your CV.

We recommend that you develop your answers offline and copy them in when you’re ready to ensure you don’t lose your work if interrupted.

Your answers will go through our sifting process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers. A long list of candidates will then additionally have their CVs reviewed. Successful candidates will be invited to attend an in-person interview at our office in Brixton, London.

Expected duration of this application process: 4-6 weeks

Interviews will take place on 16th May 2025 and will include a 60-minute interview, a 15-minute administrative task, and a 30-minute informal chat with a team member.

The deadline for applications is 12pm (midday) on Tues 6th May. 

Application information

Candidates that wish to apply should answer a series of questions related to their day-to-day job. Please follow the link below to answer the questions and submit your application along with your CV.

https://app.beapplied.com/apply/dq1rpxgr40?utm_source=RTW

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs