Octopus Say..
Job Role Description
Job Title: Community Grower
Location: Islington, London
Contract: Full‐time (37.5 hours per week)
Salary: £32,671 per annum (London weighting included)
Octopus Community Network
About Us
We’re an award-winning, community-led Urban Growing team on a mission to transform Islington’s concrete landscapes into thriving, sustainable green spaces. By pioneering closed-loop horticulture, hands-on learning and cross-sector partnerships, we cultivate more than plants—we grow stronger, healthier, more connected neighbourhoods.
Role Purpose
As our Community Grower, you’ll lead the development and delivery of our Community Plant Nursery, turning it into a vibrant learning hub and demonstrator site. You will be responsible for cultivating and caring for plants within a nursery setting, from propagation to maturity, ensuring their health and quality for community distribution. Through seasonal workshops, ongoing volunteer programmes and strategic partnerships with two emerging Nature Anchors, you’ll empower residents of all ages and abilities to grow, learn and share.
What We Offer
- Generous holiday entitlement (25 days plus bank holidays)
- Automatic enrolment into a workplace pension scheme
- Professional development and training opportunities
- Travel expenses when on duty
- An inclusive, supportive team culture that values diversity of thought and background
Key Responsibilities
- Design, plant and maintain the Community Plant Nursery using closed-loop, organic methods.
- Plan and deliver a year-round programme of experiential learning workshops, talks and open-days.
- Recruit, train and mentor a diverse team of volunteers; coordinate volunteer schedules and tasks.
- Foster strong relationships with local schools, charities, businesses and our two Nature Anchor sites.
- Develop seasonal propagation plans, stock-control systems and resource-sharing initiatives.
- Monitor and report on project outcomes—participation rates, biodiversity gains, waste reductions.
- Champion inclusive practice: adapt activities to suit different ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds.
- Represent the Urban Growing team at community forums, public events and partnership meetings.
Who You Are
- Proven experience in plant nursery operations, urban horticulture or market-garden environments.
- Deep knowledge of organic growing techniques, closed-loop systems and seasonal cycle management.
- Strong communicator and facilitator—confident leading workshops, site tours and volunteer inductions.
- Skilled relationship-builder, able to engage diverse communities and external partners.
- Physically resilient and enthusiastic about working outdoors in all weathers.
- Highly organized, with experience of tracking budgets, stock and impact metrics.
Essential Requirements
- Qualification in horticulture at Level 3 (or above and/or equivalent)
- Permaculture design qualification or complementary ethical, holistic, whole-systems approach qualifications and/or demonstrable practical experience
- Community development or equivalent; experience working with marginalised or under-represented groups.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Pro-actively participate in delivering all aspects of Octopus’s diversity, equity and inclusion policy.
- Undertake and implement learning from associated training.
- Embed a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of the work and within the workplace.
Safeguarding
- Pro-actively participate in delivering all aspects of Octopus’s safeguarding policy.
- Undertake and implement learning from associated training.
- Embed a culture of safeguarding in all aspects of the work and within the workplace.
Health and Safety
- Pro-actively engage in ensuring that all workplace environments comply with the requirements of Octopus’s Health and Safety policy.
- Undertake and implement learning from associated training.
- Undertake the production and management of risk assessments for all sites/work undertaken.
General
- Proactively commit to continuing professional development and undertake training and development that will ensure the ongoing compliance of the Community Plant Nursery and other designated growing spaces, and all aspects of funded delivery compliance/ensuring that all requirements are met.
- Actively participate as an effective team member, taking the initiative to support colleagues when needed/as appropriate, and work independently to ensure a supportive and collaborative working environment.
- Take active responsibility in participating in Network-wide projects and understanding the diverse work of Octopus Community Network and its members.
- Attend, prepare for and present performance and impact reports at team meetings, stakeholder and network meetings, as appropriate.
- Gather data required for reporting purposes and ensure its compliance with GDPR policy and protocols.
- To undertake tasks relating to the work of the Urban Growing programme and Octopus, as reasonably required.
Key results and outcomes
- Your SMART delivery plan sets out a seasonal timetable of Community Plant Nursery development, creation and maintenance, embedding key milestones, outputs and outcomes to ensure robust project management.
- Your outreach and engagement of residents and volunteers results in a network of sustainable, independently run and self-managing community gardens.
- The volunteers you engage and work with feel valued and have gained sufficient level of skills to work independently within a supervised and non-supervised environment and have confidence in seeking opportunities for employment in the sector, as appropriate.
- The working environment that you create with team members, residents and volunteers ensures that they feel fully supported through both policy and practice that helps them feel safe and safeguarded.
- Your implementation of robust monitoring and evaluation meets all aspects of safeguarding, health and safety, and captures impact evidence at a detailed level so that excellent reports to funders and commissioners can be produced.