Head of Food & Community

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.