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

Part-time (0.6 FTE, 7.5 hrs/day, 22.5 hrs/wk), remote, UK-based Fixed-term contract through 31st January 2026 Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

Ideal start date: Monday, 25th August 2025

About the Real Farming Trust

The Real Farming Trust (RFT) runs a number of programmes which bring people of all food and farming backgrounds and experiences together to build the case for agroecology.  One of these programmes is the Oxford Real Farming Conference. We are a small charity and value honesty, empathy, care and compassion in our interactions with each other in the organisation and with the partners we work with. 

About the Oxford Real Farming Conference

The Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) is a much loved and highly valued movement-led conference with a special character and a space for networking, knowledge sharing and direction setting. The annual conference has grown from a gathering of 50 delegates in 2010 to a two-day meeting of 1,800 in 2024, plus a further 3,000 online. The programme is the result of a Call for Proposals, which are selected by a team of farming partners and experts. 

In addition to the annual conference in January, ORFC has grown to include in-the-field events across different parts of the UK. Held in partnership with a farm, ORFC in the Field brings together 70 participants for two days of in-depth, hands-on workshops.

About the Operations Assistant Role

The Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) is looking for an Operations Assistant to support the smooth delivery of ORFC 2026. This role would suit someone experienced in organising projects, people, and events in a fast-paced events setting, who has knowledge of operations and additional skills to bring to the role.

We are seeking an Operations Assistant with excellent communication and administrative skills who, alongside the Operations Manager, will assist different teams across the conference to deliver an exceptional two-day event. The ideal candidate will be confident working independently as well as part of a team, highly organised with great attention to detail, and with experience of successfully working under pressure to shifting deadlines and priorities.

We are committed to providing an inclusive, welcoming, and consistently engaging experience for all conference attendees, speakers and staff.

This will be a remote-based role in the run-up to and after the conference, and then Oxford-based during the week of the conference. 

You will work closely with the ORFC Operations Manager to support coordination of internal and external logistics for smooth conference delivery to deliver an exciting, inclusive and radical programme for all delegates. 

This will include (but is not limited to):

• Supporting the Operations Manager with operations coordination as needed across staff, freelancers, AV, venues, volunteers, exhibitors, caterers, partners, and speakers
• Supporting the Operations Manager with ensuring appropriate insurances and policies are in place and safety measures adhered to by all exhibitors and vendors
• Overseeing the full exhibitor process, including liaising with exhibitors and organising exhibitor materials
• Monitoring the general ORFC inbox 
• Monitoring the ORFC registration system
• Building on on-going work to develop event processes and culture that reflects our values

We’re looking for a detail-oriented, organised, caring and thoughtful assistant with a passion for creating inclusive, equitable spaces to support the movement for agroecology and food sovereignty.

You will thrive in this role if:

• You have an enthusiastic attitude with excellent interpersonal skills
• You are passionate about the food and farming movement 
• You have excellent organisational, time management and problem-solving skills
• You are able to interact, liaise, negotiate and communicate with a broad range of people, both internal and external to the organisation, in a professional and effective manner
• You are able to make quick decisions under pressure whilst maintaining high standards of accuracy
• You have strong IT proficiency and an ability to learn new software & systems
• You are happy remote working and enjoy working with a small team
• You remain calm under stress
• You can prioritise tasks to meet deadlines under pressure

A typical week will involve both internal operational coordination and external liaising. Your time will be taken up with the following key tasks (for example):

• Regular Zoom meetings with the ORFC team, including creating agendas and managing the note-taking rota
• Frequent Zoom meetings with RFT/ORFC staff and contractors
• A lot of emailing with staff, freelancers, volunteers, exhibitors, delegates, etc
• Creating and/or updating in-person conference materials (eg, signage; volunteer and staff forms and info packs; exhibitor info packs; etc)
• Using the online ticketing system to respond to queries, track registration numbers, and issue invoices where needed
• Monitoring the info@orfc.org.uk inbox and responding to or forwarding queries as appropriate
• Reviewing risk assessments and health and safety materials 
• Regularly reviewing and updating an Event Management Plan

Essential criteria:

• Experience organising and/or delivering large-scale events 
• Experience working on projects or events with limited resources and budgets
• Experience of maintaining excellent service in a public-facing role while under pressure 
• Confident in liaising with multiple contractors and service providers simultaneously
• Working knowledge of health and safety legislation and procedures, in particular those related to the events industry
• A practical problem solver with a can-do attitude
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders
• Absolute attention to detail and administrative accuracy
• Ability to work flexible hours in line with our events schedule
• Enthusiastic and passionate about the food and farming movement

Desired criteria:

• Previous line management experience with good leadership ability
• Knowledge of GDPR and privacy policy implementation and management
• Knowledge of Health & Safety and licensing regulations
• Knowledge of AV and tech in live events 
• Knowledge of venues management
• Finance experience

What else you need to know:

• We do not have an office. We all work remotely from home and meet twice a year in-person for a few days each time. All staff are expected to attend.
• You will need to provide your own laptop.
• We all work flexibly, but you will be expected to do the majority of your work weekdays between 8am and 6pm. Some evening and weekend work may be required in the run-up to the conference from November.
• You will need to be available during the full week of the conference, with long days (16+ hours) during the conference.
• The conference takes place shortly after the winter holidays, so some work (~3 days) between Christmas and New Years Eve is expected. 
• This role is a fixed term contract through to the end of January 2026.

The benefits you will get:

• Salary: £29,644 (pro rata at 0.6 FTE)
• 20 days annual leave, plus Bank Holidays, pro rata increasing by 2 days for every year of completed service up to a maximum of 25 days (33 including bank holidays)
• Flexible working to suit your other commitments during the week
• Employer matched pension of 4%

Application information

Please email your CV, two referees (including at least one work reference), and a covering letter (no more than 1 page) detailing why you think you are suitable for the role and why you would like to join our team to Brittany Oakes brittany@realfarming.org by 12pm GMT (midday) on Tuesday, 3rd June 2025. If you have questions about the role, email Brittany at the above address.

What will happen after you have sent in your application

• We will let all applicants know if they have been shortlisted for an interview by Wednesday, 11th June 2025

• Interviews will take place online on Monday 16th and the morning of Wednesday 18th June 2025. If these dates or timings are difficult for you, please tell us in your application.

• We will share all of the interview questions in advance with you. The aim of the interview is to help you show us how you would do the role, not to catch you out.

• We will let you know in advance who will be on the interview panel and their role within the RFT.

Equity and Anti-Oppression We are committed to becoming a more inclusive workplace with a diverse staff body. We believe this is essential to our effectiveness as an organisation and our ability to fulfil our mission of “good food for everyone, forever”. We need to address both inequity and oppression within our work if we are to meet our aim. There will be tensions that this work creates and difficult questions that we need to address both internally and externally.

We know that people with certain backgrounds and characteristics are underrepresented in our team and in the alternative food and farming movement, and we want to address this. We are committed to working proactively to dismantle these systems of oppression and ensure equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background.

We have started to do this work internally, but we know there is much more to do. Every member of RFT staff is involved and part of this work. We have an internal Equity and Anti-Oppression Group that leads and monitors this work and reports to the Board.

Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form The Real Farming Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity in line with the Equality Act 2010, providing an inclusive and co-operative environment in which all individuals feel respected. Filling in this equality and diversity monitoring form is voluntary. The information you provide will be kept confidential and will only be used for monitoring purposes. Please don't enter any information that would identify you. This form is kept separately from your application and will not be seen by interviewers.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we usually receive, we regret that we are unable to offer feedback to individual applicants.

Thank you for your interest in the Real Farming Trust.

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