Head of Food & Community

Head of Food & Community

Reporting to:
Salary:
Hours:
Terms:
Direct Reports:
Location:

Chief Executive Officer
£35,000- £38,000 pro rata
37.5 hours per week
Permanent
Food Manager, Membership Managers x2
Bristol or Plymouth

About FareShare South West
FareShare South West (FSSW) joins the dots between food waste and hunger, empowering
communities to turn an environmental problem into lasting social good. We rescue tonnes of
quality surplus food from the industry and share it with charities and schools to bring health,
dignity, and routes out of poverty for people across the south west. Our supportive volunteering
and employability programmes offer local people the opportunity to thrive. By joining us, you’ll
be part of an inclusive, friendly team in a small but fast-growing charity that helps fight the
injustice of who gets to afford a healthy diet.

FareShare South West is an independent local charity, working in partnership with FareShare
UK. By being part of the national FareShare network, we can help rescue more food. By being
small and independent, we can remain close to our local partners and people and continuously
adapt to meet the needs of local communities. The member charities we share food with
transform lives, using food to connect people with other support and routes out of poverty,
including children and families, people on low incomes, homeless people, refugees, domestic
abuse survivors, people in recovery, older people, and many others.

Purpose of the Role

The purpose of this role is to bring together two of FareShare South West’s (FSSW) most critical
functions — community membership and food supply — to help transform our current
impact, rescuing and sharing food for million more meals. The post holder will lead the
development and implementation of both the membership and food strategies, ensuring our
membership offer is responsive to community need, operational capacity and the changing
landscape of surplus food.

This role is responsible for building and sustaining strong regional and national food
partnerships, aligning supply with member demand, and ensuring food reaches the highest
priority organisations. The post holder will lead and develop expert teams, strengthen cross-
departmental collaboration, and drive service improvements, innovation and growth.

As a key member of the Wider Senior Leadership Team (SLT), the role ensures robust
governance, accountability and performance across membership and food, contributing to

organisational strategy, financial sustainability and long-term impact for communities across
the South West.

1) Strategic Leadership & Governance

•  Provide visible, values-led leadership with clear accountability to the CEO and Board;

ensuring teams are aligned behind a consistent culture and change agenda.
•  Lead the creation and implementation of the membership and food strategies;

delivering to budget, achieving ambitious targets, and embedding innovation for long-
term growth.

•  Contribute to the wider organisational strategy. Work with the CEO/SLT to set annual

budgets and reforecasts, providing regular financial, key performance indicators (KPIs)
and narrative reports to the CEO and Board.

•  Lead the development and introduction of emerging surplus food types e.g., frozen food,

re-labelling, catering packs into our operation, ensuring this is fully aligned across
membership, food and operations teams.
Identify and mitigate risks across the organisation, working with the Wider SLT to
maintain an up-to-date risk register.

•

•  Support the Deputy CEO to prepare timely inputs for the audited accounts and impact

report and attend finance subcommittee meetings as required.

•  Act as a passionate advocate of FareShare South West, representing the organisation

confidently to internal and external stakeholders.

•  Strengthen alignment between the membership and food teams by identifying and

implementing innovative, effective solutions to ensure food reaches the highest priority
organisations.

2) Food Partners and Supply

•  With support from the CEO, lead on the key relationship with the national partner

FareShare and The Felix Project, ensuring food supply is maximised and aligned with
organisational needs.

•  Be accountable for all incoming food supply, including national (70-75% of our total

supply via FareShare and The Felix Project) and locally sourced (25-30%)

•  Raise awareness of FSSW’s capability to redistribute surplus food and, with support

from our communications team, position the organisation as the surplus food partner of
choice in the region, leading on food campaigns, external activity, networks and events.

•  Working with the Food Manager, maintain and grow local food partnerships across the
South West to secure supply aligned with infrastructure, growth plans and community
need—taking the lead on stewarding key suppliers and maintaining accurate records.

•  Be accountable for food safety and compliance across the organisation, including

product recalls, legislation changes, liaison with national partners and the Health and
Safety consultant.

•  Work closely with both the food and fundraising teams to develop and deliver a gleaning

programme across the organisation.

•  Work closely with the operations team to ensure all incoming food is compliant, within

capacity limits, and aligned to local operational realities.

•  Be accountable for key food related projects and reporting for relevant funders, working

with the Finance Manager to ensure accurate procurement data.

•  Be accountable for the food pipeline and for managing internal and external

communications related to food availability, allocation, planning and future growth.

3) Community Membership Development

•  Establish a refreshed, high value membership service and value proposition, aligned to

surplus food supply, logistics capacity and community need.

•  Ensure the membership team implements a data-driven strategy for recruitment and
retention, incorporating member feedback, root cause analysis and performance
insights.

•  Develop and lead long-term, strategic partnerships aligned with the current and future
needs of the membership programme, representing the organisation in South West
networks relevant to FSSW’s mission.

•  Work with the CEO and SLT to develop and scale membership programmes across

regions (e.g., Crisis Resilience Fund).

•  Lead efforts to reduce food waste across the organisation through improved
membership offerings, bolt-on memberships and direct delivery models.

•  Maintain a strong, collaborative relationship across the FareShare network, capturing

and sharing best practice within membership development.

•  Support major, complex development projects across the organisation (particularly

those involving membership and food teams), ensuring inclusive working with internal
teams and providing supporting business plans and financial forecasts.

•  Be accountable for the quality and compliance of the membership CRM (Salesforce),

ensuring accurate data for internal use and funder reporting.

•  Develop metrics to support effective food allocation, and to manage current and future

demand in line with logistics capacity.

4) People and Culture Management

•  Lead, coach and develop managers and teams within your department and oversee
their recruitment, appraisals, supervision, wellbeing and professional development.
•  Build a collaborative, high performing culture across the membership and food teams,

working closely with operations and volunteering.

•  Champion values-led leadership and effective cross-departmental communication.
•  Promote an inclusive, supportive and purpose-driven culture that motivates staff to

contribute to the charity’s mission.

•  Model and promote safe working behaviours across both functions, ensuring food safety

conversations are part of everyday management.

Health, Safety & Compliance

•  Ensure risk assessments, safe systems of work, and training are in place and reviewed

regularly across food and membership functions.

•  Ensure compliance with FareShare UK standards, the Health and Safety at Work Act,

Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations.

•  Ensure teams understand and comply with organisational policies, food safety

requirements, health and safety legislation and safeguarding responsibilities.
•  Working alongside the Head of Operations, lead regular food safety briefings and

toolbox talks to reinforce safe behaviours and encourage open reporting.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

•  Proven leadership experience, including building high-performing teams.
•  Experience in a food, logistics, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) or operational

supply-chain environment

•  Strong analytical and organisational skills, with confidence using data to inform

decisions, manage budgets and track performance.

•  Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, able to influence and

collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.

Desirable Criteria

•  Knowledge of food safety, health & safety and regulatory requirements relevant to food

handling and redistribution.

•  Experience working in a charity, social enterprise or purpose-driven environment, with

an understanding of community need and social impact.

•  Familiarity with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and confidence using digital tools to

improve service delivery

•  Experience working cross-functionally, aligning teams around shared goals and

improving processes between departments.

•  Understanding of customer journeys or service-user engagement