Jobs

Job Vacancies       (note: see below for Experienced Baker role)

Title: Community Ecologist

Hours of Work:  Part Time: 15hrs/week, (0.4FTE)     

 (flexible work pattern, may require some evening/weekend work).

Salary:    £27,000 - £30,000 pro rata     (plus pension with 3% employer contribution)

Duration of post: Fixed term contract to 31st March 2026 (start as soon as possible).

This role is funded by the Neighbourhood Ecosystem Fund (Inspiring Scotland).

Role:   We are looking for an energetic, engaging and visionary ‘Community Ecologist’, who can inspire a wide range of people about the value and importance of the diversity of species for whom Granton is home.  This will include leading on the co-design of a ‘Neighbourhood Ecosystem Plan’:  Granton is severely nature depleted following years of heavy industry and urbanisation, what would it take for our ecosystem to be restored and for Granton to truly flourish (nature and community together)?

Background: Granton Community Gardeners began as a group of local residents who started creating community vegetable gardens on areas of wasteground in 2010.  We are now a grassroots community led charity, working for the benefit of the community of Granton (North Edinburgh), particularly through hosting opportunities for local people to grow, cook and eat food together.

 This is a new role which will build on existing work and skills within our organisation:

Job Purpose:

To inspire local community members in developing greater understanding and appreciation of local biodiversity through engaging practical learning experiences.

To develop a ‘Neighbourhood Ecosystem Plan’ for Granton, by collating existing current and historical data, conducting habitat surveys, liaising with a wide range of stakeholder organisations and community members, and considering appropriate recommendations. 

To contribute to the wider work of Granton Community Gardeners, especially in our efforts to improve the management and care of land in our community, and to involve as many people as possible in this process for the benefit of all..

Main duties and responsibilities:

Planning and delivering workshops and habitat surveys, (eg. ‘bioblitz’ sessions), to engage community members in developing a greater appreciation and knowledge of present local living species.    (including risk assessments and arranging practical logistics).

Collating relevant existing (current and historical) data through desk based research and liaising with relevant organisations.

Producing a well informed and ambitious Neighbourhood Ecosystem Plan, that makes recommendations for future actions to support nature recovery, that could be implemented by a range of actors and stakeholders.

Supporting community gardening sessions, events and wider community engagement work.

Contributing to wider communications, such as newsletters, and social media content.

Person Specification. Experience, skills, qualifications:

Essential:

Relevant qualification or equivalent vocational experience in ecology, wildlife conservation, or nature restoration. This should include practical experience of leading biodiversity/habitat surveys. 

Relevant qualification or equivalent vocational experience in community development, community education, or working within an active community organisation.

Proven track record of inspiring and engaging a diverse range of people in practical nature based activities.

Happy to work independently and with others.  

Good self motivation and time management.

Good written, verbal, and digital communication skills.

Good baseline knowledge of local wildlife.

Commitment to equality and diversity and inclusion.

Desirable:

Knowledge of the local area and the challenges many local people face.

Resident of Granton

Experience and skills in working with children and young people.

Place of work:

Throughout Granton, based at Granton Community Garden, 10 Wardieburn Road, Edinburgh. Flexible to include some home working (an office hot desk may be provided if home working is not practical in your situation).

To Apply: please email a CV and covering letter detailing how your skills and experience match the job description and person specification to tom@grantoncommunitygardeners.org by Fri 20th June 2025.

Interviews: Mon 23rd June

Start date: As soon as possible.

Experienced Artisan Baker Needed  for Community Bakery expansion and development:

Are you an experienced baker (3+ years professional baking experience), who might be interested to join our small team and help us develop our innovative community bakery, as we embark on some exciting expansion plans?

Are you good at leading a team, training new staff members, creating and refining systems and schedules, solving problems, dealing with suppliers and customers, and have a proven track record of baking excellence?

Do you share our values and aims?   (see below)

If so we’d like to hear from you..      

Please email lisa@grantoncommunitygardeners.org with a CV and brief introduction to yourself and we can arrange a conversation..

We are not advertising a specific role at present, but we anticipate needing an additional senior staff member within the next 4months.     Hours, pay and start date all negotiable.

We believe the best bread should be for everyone!   We bake high quality nutritious sourdough bread and work to make it accessible and affordable to all in our community. For example we sell all our regular loaves on a ‘Pay what you can’ basis on Saturday mornings in the middle of Granton.

We are also committed to strengthening local food supply chains, sourcing our ingredients as locally as possible.  We’re passionate about grain varieties and how they are grown (eg. working with Lauriston agroecology farm). We are working to set up a small mill, and developing innovative product lines using locally grown ingredients.  

We share and seek to advance the aims of the food sovereignty movement which are: 1/ Food is for people. 2/ Food producers are valued. 3/ Food systems are localised. 4/ There is democratic control over the food system. 5/ We build knowledge and skills. 6/ Our food system works with nature. 

Our bakery was set up within grassroots local charity: Granton Community Gardeners. It has been running on a small scale since 2019 and is highly valued within the community.  We’re committed to serving and strengthening the community we’re part of.  This includes increasing access to high quality nutritious food, promoting understanding of and connection to the food supply, creating local employment and training opportunities, valuing and celebrating the wealth of local cultural diversity and expertise, and supporting more opportunities for people to gather and connect with each other around the production and sharing of food.   Any profits generated go to supporting the wider work of Granton Community Gardeners.