we Are Hiring!

Job Role: Community Mushroom Farmer

Location: Lauriston Farm in North West Edinburgh. 

Salary: £27,976 Pro Rata. Minimum hourly rate will increase in line with the Real Living Wage. 

Hours and work pattern: 32 hours a week.  Very occasional evening/weekend work, that can be offset by TOIL. Possibility of 40hrs/week funding/income dependant.

Contract length: Permanent position, with 6 months probation. 

Closing date for applications: 12:00 (noon/mid-day) Sunday March 1st. 

Interview date: Week of March 9th

Start Date: 15th of April or as soon as possible after that. 

Valid driving licence and right to work in the UK  is essential.

About Rhyze: Rhyze was founded in 2020 by a group of activists. We are a worker’s cooperative and together  we run a community farm where we work with decomposing fungi and worms to help build a food system that repurposes waste, improves soil health, and strengthens community resilience. 

With help from our volunteers we grow mushrooms on local business waste, use worm based composting to produce a nutrient rich soil amendment, and provide community for people who face barriers to social inclusion, particularly folk who are neurodivergent and/or LGBTQ+. Our farm is a place for shared learning and innovation,  as well as our volunteer sessions we facilitate a variety of workshops, carry out research projects, training programmes and host open days.  

The Role: We have spent the last year building our second mushroom farm, an innovative low-impact poly tunnel system with the capacity to grow 100+ kg of Oyster mushrooms/week.

All systems and infrastructure to carry out this work have been developed and we are seeking a new member of the team to take on these responsibilities of managing our oyster mushroom production.  This physical and dynamic role will require good attention to detail, strong practical skills and an eagerness to coordinate and work with volunteers. 

Your duties will include: 

  • Facilitating twice weekly farm volunteer sessions to inoculate mushroom blocks, move bags, harvest mushrooms and process mushrooms.

  • Working with other staff members to troubleshoot, repair and maintain farm equipment and infrastructure

  • Producing spawn in our lab and keeping track of our cultures. 

  • Procuring and taking responsibility for the management of substrates. 

  • Helping with twice weekly deliveries to shops and restaurants, and packing orders for the Lauriston Farm CSA. 

  • Logging and managing data about harvests, inoculations, substrate deliveries. 

  • Participating in weekly staff meetings.

Essential qualities for the role:

These qualities are crucial to this role and successful applicants will likely be able to demonstrate all of the following in previous employment or experiences:

  • Good level of fitness, ability to lift ~12.5 kg  mushrooms bags comfortably and work on your feet most of the day. 

  • Experience of volunteer management or community engagement.

  • Experience of  and strong interest in food production .

  • Professional or extensive voluntary experience in a practical, manual job such as food growing, horticulture, gardening,  forestry or a building trade like carpentry.

  • A strong alignment with our principles and values and a desire to be a long-term member of our cooperative.

  • A track record of being able to take on projects and challenges independently

  • Strong sense of professional self awareness and maturity about one’s own strengths and weaknesses and how these play out when working in groups

  • The ability and willingness to work closely with others and the confidence to give and receive feedback 

  • Driving license

Desirable qualities: 

These qualities would significantly improve your chances of getting shortlisted for interview:

  • Mycology knowledge, experience of mushroom cultivation

  • Aseptic lab skills 

  • Experience of self employment and small business administration

  • Third sector managerial experience, knowledge of safeguarding and other administrative responsibilities.

  • Grant writing experience.

  • Strong data management skills and confidence designing basic agricultural trials.

  • A background or qualification in ecology, horticulture or other related science

Joining our co-operative:

We are a non-hierarchical workers’ cooperative and we are looking for someone who wants to become a long-term member of our team and help our project grow and thrive. As a core staff member you would become a co-director of the company following your six month probation. 

It’s crucial that anyone who joins our team has strong alignment with our values and understands that they are not our employee, but our equal. You must have the drive, motivation and energy to share responsibility for the success of the project.

Depending on the growth of the project there is scope for hours to increase to 4.5 or 5 days a week. We set our own wages and they will increase if the project thrives. We have a pay parity policy so all staff will always be on the same hourly wage. 

Probation:

We are a small team and chemistry is everything. A wrong recruitment decision could easily destabilise us so we’ve decided to have a six month probation period for this role to ensure that the decision to work together makes sense for everyone involved. 

How to Apply:

To apply for this role please fill out this form and attach a CV and  a cover letter answering the following questions, please  ensure your cover letter does not exceed 1,200 words.

  • Why are you applying for this role at this point in your life/ career? 

  • What about this role excites you?

  • Why do you think you could succeed in this role?

  • What parts of the role do you think you’d find most challenging?

  • Please include the contact details of two potential references 

All applications will be scored against the ‘essential qualities’ needed to fulfil the role, so please refer to these as write your cover letter and CV. 

Alternative formats: If sending a CV + Cover letter doesn’t feel possible and you have another format like a video you would like to submit we are happy to consider that too.  If anything is unclear or you have any questions about the role feel free to get in touch before applying, you can write to  lauren@rhyzemushrooms.org 

Equal Opportunities Policy:  We  particularly encourage applications from people of colour and people most impacted by climate change or impacted by other kinds of environmental, social, and economic injustice who are currently under-represented in the food justice and environmental movements in the UK. 


Successful candidates will be selected on the basis of how well they fit the person specification, as judged by their application and interview. Where two or more candidates are judged to be of equal merit, priority may be given to those marginalised by this racist, classist, sexist, ableist system. 

Legal employment disclaimer: We cannot consider applications from people who do not already have the right to work in the UK, and we do not have the capacity or resources to sponsor work visas at this time. 

The deadline for applying is midday, Sunday March 1st. 

We will get back to everyone with shortlisting decisions by Thursday 5th of March and interviews will be held the week of March 9th.