Food Sourcing & Partnership Officer

Food Sourcing & Partnership Officer Salary:  £29991 per annum Location: Midlands wide- Leicester LE18, Birmingham B7, Nottingham NG2 Hours:  Full Time, 37.5 hours per week Benefits:  25 days holiday, pro-rata, 5.5% Employer Pension Contribution including Life Cover, Occupational Sick Pay Benefits & Enhanced Maternity,  Adoption and Paternity Leave and Pay, plus more Reporting to: Food Supply Manager FareShare Midlands is the region's largest food redistribution charity.
We take good-to-eat surplus food from the food industry and get it to our Members - frontline charities and community groups all over the Midlands.
We turn an environmental problem into a social solution.
Last year we redistributed almost 5,794 tonnes of food from our warehouses in Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham.
It is sorted and stored by our dedicated teams of staff and volunteers, and then redistributed to around 800 Members including food pantries and cafes, homeless shelters and drop-in centres.
These local organisations turn the food into food parcels, affordable shopping and delicious meals for people of all ages.
As well as food, our Members provide vital support to families and the elderly, many of whom are facing challenging circumstances and living in poverty.
Last year our food reached more than 83,000 vulnerable people every week, providing 13 million meals.
At the same time, we are growing our Employability Programmes to help people gain work experience, skills and jobs.
We will be actively interviewing prospective candidates as they apply.
The Role This important role will represent FareShare Midlands and engage with the food industry in the Midlands, to develop and grow volumes of surplus food.
Using your account management skills you will manage existing and new business relationships, growing our supply base and ensuring rewarding and sustainable relationships for the partner.
You will need determination and drive to work effectively with a wide range of businesses and organisations.
The role involves working closely with the FareShare Midlands Food Sourcing Manager and FareShare UK Teams to strengthen our capability to source and accept more food.
As well as managing existing food partners and spending time researching and contacting potential new local food suppliers in the region, the role includes researching and making new contacts and following up leads.
By working closely with the FareShare Midlands Food Sourcing Manager we ensure coordination on management of UK wide food partner accounts as well as consistency of approach and delivery of national initiatives where appropriate.
Key duties and responsibilities: Business Development and Relationship Management   · Act as a point of contact for a portfolio of existing local food partners and the regional sites of selected National Food Partners · Research and develop new relationships with food partners and food industry stakeholders across the Midlands.
· Build strong relationships and engage with food partners and stakeholders on a regular basis · Meet existing and potential food partners to competently and effectively present the benefits of working with FareShare · Engage with accounts to prompt donations of food through regular phone calls, emails and face to face contact · Support food partners in identifying surplus food through carrying out factory 'waste walks' and engaging employees appropriately · Work closely with the Food Team and the Supply Chain & Logistics Team to ensure any supply or account management issues are promptly and satisfactorily resolved · Provide regular food partner impact reporting, case studies and recognition · Capture feedback from our food partners about their relationship with FareShare   Team Work and Reporting ·  Work closely with the FareShare Midlands management team to support delivery of the strategy and ensure effectively communication and team working.
· Work in conjunction with the Food Supply Manager and the FareShare UK Food Team to ensure smooth management of accounts which span the UK and the Midlands.
· Attend Regional Food Sourcing meetings and support the Food Team members and initiatives as required.
· Feedback to the team ideas for improving the existing processes and operations linked to the provision of food.
· Efficiently plan and undertake visits, planning your diary to use time and FareShare's resources effectively to minimize travel time and expense while maximising potential opportunities during business hours.
· Work closely alongside regional sourcing colleagues across the UK and regularly attend regional sourcing team meetings.
Person Specification - Skills, Qualities & Experience Skills · The ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships at a range of levels and across multiple functions with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
· Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to change tone for different stakeholders and confidently present online or face to face.
· Team player with a positive and collaborative attitude, who enjoys working with others to help achieve broader objectives.
· Positive outlook with the ability to be an engaging enthusiastic ambassador for FareShare and a desire to seek tangible outcomes and drive incremental growth · Willing to learn and develop account management skills with the guidance and support of the Food Supply manager and the Food Team.
· Comfortable with cold calling of new accounts and the judgement to be able to balance persistence with empathy and understanding.
· Pro-active, organised, resilient and able to work under pressure, whilst maintaining excellent attention to detail.
· Great problem solving and decision-making skills, a solutions led mind set and ability to back up decisions using data and analysis.
· Very well organised with excellent attention to detail, comfortable using own initiative, developing a list of priorities and managing the workload.
· A people person who will enjoy communicating with our food partners, our Regional Centres and the wider FareShare Team.
· Proactive with suggesting process improvements or creative solutions to challenges.
· Computer literate comfortable with online tools including a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
Essential · Experience of working in the food industry · Experience of managing accounts in the food, retail or FMCG sector · Proven ability to build cross functional relationships with a customer service focus ·  Knowledge of and interest in Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility and experience of its application within the business environment · Excellent proven organisational skills · Proven ability to form good working relationships, both internally and externally · Full driving license and access to own car  Desirable · Experience of managing accounts in the FMCG, food, retail or other fast moving customer service orientated sector.
· Track record of using selling and negotiation skills with professionalism and integrity to achieve desired outcomes & targets.   · Management of initiatives and projects such as new product launches, operational initiatives, promotional activity or similar.
· Knowledge of and interest in Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility and experience of its application within the business environment.  Values and behaviours  · A commitment to Equal Opportunities · An appreciation of FareShare Midlands' mission and vision · Flexibility of approach and ability to work in a team · Proven ability to develop and maintain good working relations, with both internal and external audiences · The roleholder will be required to work flexibly.
How to Apply: If you would like to apply for this role, please create a supporting statement to demonstrate your suitability and to explain your interest in both the job and FareShare Midlands.
Please send your supporting statement with a copy of your CV.
We continue to strive to ensure that the profile of our staff and volunteers reflects the diverse communities we serve across the Midlands.
As such we encourage and welcome applications from all our communities.
We particularly welcome applications from people from ethnically diverse backgrounds as they are currently under-represented within FareShare Midlands.      We will be actively interviewing prospective candidates as they apply.