Job Title: Farm Lead
Reporting To: Project Manager
Salary Range: £29,000 - £31,000
Contract Type: 2–4 month contract, dependent on circumstances/availability.
Location: Felix Farms in Kent with occasional travel to Felix’s sites in London (Deptford, Enfield, Poplar, Acton, Western International Market, New Spitalfields Market, Canary Wharf, Old Street.)
Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week, 8:00am – 4.00pm, Monday – Friday.
Requirements: The Felix Project can only employ applicants who currently have the right to work in the UK. UK Driving License mandatory. Forklift License highly desirable.
About The Felix Project
The Felix Project and FareShare have recently merged to form the UK's largest food redistribution charity. Its vision is a UK where good food is never wasted, and nobody goes hungry.
The organisation rescues high quality edible surplus food, from across the food industry and gets it to over 8,000 organisations across the UK who are working to strengthen communities and improve lives.
The charity manages seven depots across London, Suffolk, Merseyside and Hampshire and works with 16 network partners who operate a further 26 regional depots across the UK.
Over the next year our ambition is to rescue enough food nationally to provide nearly 200 million meals, turning an environmental problem into social good with measurable impact for people, planet, and the economy.
Our Values
Our values set the tone for our organisational culture and reflects how we do everything at The Felix Project including our recruitment & Selection process.
Purpose of the Job
We are looking for the Farm Lead to play a key role in ensuring that Felix is successful in achieving its objective to rescue and secure a growing supply of surplus food, helping us to meet our ambitious meal targets to feed those in need.
This role sits within the Food Innovations Team and looks to expand and strengthen partnerships across the food supply chain, including farms, manufacturers and other food industry partners.
The focus of the role will involve leading our Farm Rescue operations. From August to November, Felix engages of hundreds of volunteers from our partners to pick the entire plum, apple and pear crop at two farm sites in Kent. You will coordinate our seasonal on-site food rescue activities in collaboration with partner farms, volunteers, and hauliers. This is a hands-on, outdoor role that combines project management, relationship building, and operational leadership, ideal for someone passionate about sustainability, food systems, and community impact.
Duties and Responsibilities
Your normal duties and responsibilities will be set out in your job description. However, the charity may require you to perform other duties from time to time.
On-site Farm Rescue Operations
- Oversee daily operations of fruit-picking during harvest season, including 8:00am site set-up and coordination of activities throughout the day.
- Conduct Dynamic Risk Assessments each morning to ensure safety standards are met.
- Meet and greet volunteers upon arrival, providing introductions and a Health & Safety briefing.
- Manage all aspects of picking and loading fruit into crates/bins, ensuring efficiency and quality control.
- Organise lunch and refreshments for volunteers to ensure a positive experience.
- Liaise with farmers or on-site contacts daily to coordinate logistics.
- Coordinate with hauliers for collections and deliveries and communicate with Felix depots to confirm receipt and distribution.
- Lead and support, where necessary, on all farm outreach activities.
- Carry out any other duties as directed by line management to support the success of the Food Innovation team.
- End of day thanks to volunteers & impact messaging
- Partnership Management and Development
- Manage and maintain strong relationships with existing partner suppliers, including farms, orchards, and growers.
- Represent The Felix Project at relevant events, meetings, and forums to promote our work and explore new collaborations.
- Contribute to weekly and monthly reviews of food supply activity, ensuring accurate reporting.
- Lead on the end-of-season harvest review, summarising outcomes, learnings, and recommendations for future harvests,
Person Specification
You will thrive in a dynamic, hands-on environment and enjoy leading volunteers and projects that have tangible community impact. You will be confident managing relationships, comfortable with both project planning and physically demanding outdoor work and committed to The Felix Project’s mission to tackle food waste and food poverty.
Essential Criteria
- Experience working in a busy environment and managing competing tasks
- Confident and professional
- Capable of excelling in a fast-paced dynamic environment
- Ability to work within a team of varied individuals with a positive attitude
- Excellent communication skills
- In easy travelling distance to Marden/Horsmonden in Kent. Accommodation not provided.
- UK Driving License Mandatory. Confident with driving volunteers in minibuses and Felix Vans.
- Forklift license highly desirable/candidate willing to take forklift test.
- Completed, or willing to undertake, Dynamic Risk Assessment and First Aid training.
- Ability to travel into one of our Felix Depots in London for Trial Shift, Second Interview and Induction (if successful).
Equity Diversity Inclusion & Belonging
At The Felix Project, we are committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do. We value the unique contributions of every individual and strive to create a respectful, inclusive environment free from discrimination or prejudice. Our commitment extends to all employees, and volunteers, ensuring equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of background or characteristics.
Application procedure
Once you apply you will be directed to our recruitment portal. Please upload your CV and a covering letter outlining your suitability for the role and make sure that they are both uploaded before submitting your application. After you have submitted your application, you have 24 hours in which you can access you application and make edits. We will only consider applications with both CV and cover letter submitted.
Recruitment timeline
We reserve the right to close advertisements early and we might assess candidates and arranging interview as applications come in, so please apply as soon as possible, to avoid missing out on this opportunity.
Due to the anticipated large number of applicants, if you do not hear from us within four weeks of your application, we regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful. Consequently, will not be able to provide feedback.
