We're Hiring: Community Fridge Project Coordinator

Do you thrive on building community, reducing food waste, and supporting volunteers?

We are looking for a flexible, compassionate, and highly organised Project Coordinator for the Zero Carbon Guildford Community Fridge. This is a hands-on position running one of Zero Carbon Guildford’s flagship projects. The ideal candidate will be a natural people-person who thrives on building positive relationships and is passionate about supporting the community to reduce food waste.

Zero’s Community Fridge has been running since 2021, and aims to both reduce and spark conversations about food waste, as well as providing a space for community for our many regular visitors. Last year the Community Fridge was visited 13,000 times, saving 29 tonnes of food and 73 tonnes of CO₂. 

About the Role

• Contract: 12-month fixed term (with potential to extend, subject to funding)

• Hours: 14 hours per week (minimum 9 hours on Tues & Thurs 9:30–2:00; remaining hours flexible)

• Salary: £12,621.20 per year (pro rata, equivalent to £31,553 FTE)

• Location: ZERO, Riverside Business Centre, Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, GU1 4UG, with flexibility to work from home for some hours. Occasional travel within Guildford will be required.

• Start date: TBC

Job description

The Community Fridge Project Worker will manage Community Fridge operations, including managing and supporting CF volunteers and ensuring that all food hygiene requirements are met. The role will also lead on strategic oversight and future planning, including building partnerships to expand this flagship project.

Responsibilities:

• Manage Community Fridge operations, ensuring that the two weekly sessions of the CF run smoothly with sufficient, well trained volunteers, food collections are well organised and the CF maintains its inclusive, open-to-all community.

• Ensure food hygiene and health and safety systems, practices and records are kept up to date, and all CF volunteers have sufficient training to implement requirements.

• Manage the team of CF volunteers, ensuring volunteers have relevant training, are supported to fulfil their roles and are involved in discussions and decisions about day-to-day operations.

• Grow the CF team, with the aim of increasing the number of volunteers over the next 6 months, including some who are able to take on more responsibilities.  

• Ensure accurate and up-to-date records are kept of both quantity of food distributed and number of visitors.

• Maintain and build relationships with external organisations to support CF activities, including those that can take food the CF can’t redistribute, those that can promote the CF and those that could be useful for improving or expanding CF activities. 

• Lead on developing and implementing a long term strategic direction and plan for the CF, along with CF volunteers and ZCG staff, identifying and implementing new activities to reduce food waste and engage the public on the importance of reducing food waste. 

• Any additional work to support the Community Fridge project as agreed with ZCG Outreach and Engagement Coordinator.

  
  

Person specification: 

• Excellent people skills, with experience of and commitment to working with people with diverse needs and from diverse backgrounds to ensure everyone is included, valued and supported. 

• Good organisational skills and ability to ensure necessary processes are in place and implemented.

• Experience of managing, leading or coordinating volunteers, staff or other groups. This could be either in a professional or voluntary context. 

• Skills and confidence to contact and build relationships with colleagues in external organisations.

• Comfortable with basic IT systems including email, Google Docs and spreadsheets, WhatsApp and ability to learn and use a range of apps. 

• Commitment to supporting the local community to reduce food waste.

• Openness to new ideas and working with others to develop and try out new project activities to increase project impact.

The role holder will need to have at least Level 2 food hygiene training, which will be provided by ZCG if required. 

Benefits

• Travel expenses for work beyond your normal place of work.

• Expenses for work-related communications.

• Pension contribution.

• Annual leave: 25 days plus bank holidays (pro rata for part-time employees).

  
  

Inclusive Recruitment Statement

At Zero Carbon Guildford we believe diversity makes us stronger. We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and be their authentic self.  We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities, including (but not limited to) race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and socioeconomic

status. 

Research shows that some candidates may self-select out of applying if they don’t meet 100% of the listed criteria. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every requirement, we still encourage you to apply—you may be the right person for the job.

Privacy

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. Any information you provide during the recruitment process will be handled securely, used only for recruitment purposes, and never shared without your consent. For full details, please see our Privacy Policy.

How to apply

Please send your CV and a cover letter to recruitment@zerocarbonguildford.org by midnight on Sunday 12th October 2025.

Your cover letter should explain:

• Why you’d like to join our team.

• What you would bring to the role and charity.

Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

We also invite all candidates to complete an optional equality, diversity and inclusion monitoring form. This involves sharing some information about your background. Providing this information is entirely voluntary. It will be used only for anonymous monitoring and reporting purposes to help us identify trends and ensure our recruitment practices are fair and inclusive. The information you provide will be stored securely, kept separate from your application, and will not be seen by the recruitment panel or used in any decisions about your application.

Applications will be reviewed, and shortlisted applicants will be asked to attend an interview week commencing Monday 20th October 2025. The interviews may be in the evenings/weekend to allow for a volunteer Trustee to sit on the panel.

If there’s anything we can do to make our recruitment process more accessible to you, please get in touch—we’d love to support you.