Food Sustainability Manager

Co-Op Company is seeking a Food Sustainability Manager in Manchester, UK, offering a salary of £40,000 to £50,000. This hybrid role involves supporting food sustainability commitments, delivering workshops, and translating technical information for various teams. Candidates should have strong communication skills and an understanding of food policy. Benefits include discounts, bonuses, and career development support. The position promotes a diverse work environment.
Food Sustainability Manager

£40,000 to £50,000 plus great benefits (Work Level 6A)

Manchester City Centre, in this role you’ll work in a hybrid way splitting your time between home and coming into the office when needed (find out more about our hybrid working policy at https://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy ).

We’re looking for a Food Sustainability Manager to join our Climate Change team. We’ll look to you to build knowledge and capacity across our Co-op to support on food sustainability commitments and priorities. You’ll support the team with the delivery of key projects, communications, upskilling resources and events. In this exciting role, you’ll be bringing Co-op’s environmental commitments to life, making sure teams across our business are equipped to make a difference for people and planet.

What you’ll do
• Translate complex, technical topics (such as carbon accounting, sustainability software tools) into upskilling, engagement and reference materials for key teams
• Translate emerging requirements, standards and other technical sustainability briefings (e.g. SBTi consultation, ISSB standards, government white papers) into plain English
• Deliver workshops, briefings and other engagement sessions with internal teams and partners across Co-op on food sustainability
• Build and maintain relationships with key internal and external teams and partners to support the delivery of the food sustainability team strategy
• Support the team with reporting and monitoring tasks in line with public commitments
• Support the delivery of specific food sustainability projects, research, reports and presentations

This role would suit people who have
• A strong understanding and interest in food policy and sustainability issues
• Excellent communication skills, with strong experience in training and facilitation for a wide range of partners (e.g. commercial, procurement, finance teams)
• The ability to support others by explaining technical information in an engaging manner
• Experience of managing long term projects, requiring disciplined governance and quality documentation demonstrating excellent organisational skills
• The ability to manage and plan their own workload to meet deadlines and handle conflicting and changing priorities

Why Co-op?

If you have the skills that we need, we can offer you a competitive salary and great benefits package which includes 30% off Co-op branded products in our food stores (as well as other discounts on Co-op products and services).
• An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
• 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
• Coaching and training to support your career development
• Wagestream app – giving you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn

At Co-op, we’re proud to do things a different way. As one of the world’s largest co-operatives, owned by millions of members, community is at the heart of what we do. Since our Co-op was founded in 1844, we’ve had a clear social purpose, and everything we do as a business helps to build a fairer world for our members, customers, colleagues, and communities.

Building a diverse environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme and all our commitments to diversity and inclusion at jobs.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion-wellbeing

Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes between 45-60 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.