Head of Food & Community

The purpose of this role is to bring together two of Fare Share 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.

Read the overview of this opportunity to understand what skills, including and relevant soft skills and software package proficiencies, are required.
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 Fare Share 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 Fare Share 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 Fare Share 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…