Make meaningful impact in a game changing project.
Jobs
Northern Roots is creating the UK’s largest urban farm and eco-park on 160-acres of underused greenspace in Oldham, Greater Manchester – a unique community hub and visitor destination.
This autumn, we’re opening our brand-new Welcome Building and café, showcasing fresh produce grown right here at Northern Roots.
Northern Roots is a small, friendly and inclusive team that prioritizes connection to nature and each other. As the project grows, so will our team.
We are looking to build a friendly, hardworking Food and Beverage team to create an accessible food offer and welcoming cafe that reflects the pride, ambition and creativity of Northern Roots and Oldham.
Key Information
If you are applying for multiple roles, you must edit your cover letter to reflect the role you are applying for, and you must email your applications separately.
Email your CV and cover letter to info@northern-roots.uk by midnight on Sunday 26 July 2026.
We aim to hold interviews within the first two weeks of August.
Join the Northern Roots Café Team
Assistant Chef at Northern Roots
Work alongside our Head Chef to create beautiful, consistently high-quality dishes using as much fresh produce from the farm as possible. You will assist with ordering, prepare dishes to high standards of quality, presentation and food safety, and help create a positive, professional kitchen environment.
Salary: £29,120 per annum
Contract: 40 hours per week
Baker at Northern Roots
We’re looking for a skilled and enthusiastic Baker to produce a range of high-quality, homemade baked goods for our café. With at least one year’s experience as a baker and a track record of producing high-quality baked goods, you will use seasonal ingredients and adapt recipes for varying customer numbers.
Salary: £29,120 FTE (pro rata)
Contract: 20 hours per week (2.5 days)
Kitchen Porter (2 Roles)
Help keep our kitchen running smoothly by supporting the café team in maintaining a clean, safe and efficient working environment. We’re looking for two friendly, proactive Kitchen Porters to help maintain high standards of cleanliness and create a welcoming and supportive environment for colleagues and visitors.
Salary: £12.71 per hour
Contracts: One 20-hour per week role and one zero-hours role
Café Assistant (3 Roles)
We’re looking for three Café Assistants with experience in a customer-facing hospitality or catering roles to support the front-of-house team and help deliver a warm welcome and excellent customer experience in our new café. This will include taking customer orders, process payments, providing a friendly, attentive service, as well as supporting meetings, events and hospitality functions.
Salary: £12.71 per hour
Contracts: Three zero-hours roles. Two roles are expected to average 20–25 hours per week, and one around 10 hours per week initially, with opportunities for additional hours
Volunteering
Volunteers make a valuable contribution to the development of Northern Roots, and we are grateful for the hard work, enthusiasm and support of everyone who volunteers with us. We offer a variety of volunteering opportunities from short Community Litter Picks to our Urban Farm and Environmental volunteering programme.
Our team of Northern Roots staff and existing volunteers are a friendly and inclusive group, so if you join our volunteering programme, you’ll get a warm welcome.
Northern Roots Urban Farm and Environmental volunteers can get involved in sowing, harvesting, composting, weeding, mulching and creating no dig beds in our Phase 1 Urban Farm. You can support the conservation of 160-acres of woodland, meadows and ponds through path maintenance and habitat creation, or learn new skills such as woodworking and landscaping with our experienced Land Team. No previous experience required, simply a passion for nature and learning.
Applications are currently closed for volunteering. The best way to stay up to date is through social media or our newsletter, which you can sign up to here.
What our volunteers say…
“l’ve learned how to plant garlic, which has reignited by passion for growing food. I don’t usually grow anything over the winter, but this has made me think actually, I could grow stuff in winter as well. Volunteering is also a bit of respite because I’m a carer for one of my kids. This helps give me a good break.” Flora, Urban Farm and Environmental Volunteer
“I wanted to join this year and it’s been great. I’ve enjoyed it. The people have been brilliant, staff are nice, everything’s brilliant.” John, Urban Farm and Environmental Volunteer
“I’ve learned teamwork, planting, mulching, weeding, planting hedges, and I’m hoping to learn woodwork.” Gill, Urban Farm and Environmental Volunteer
“I’ve recommended volunteering at Northern Roots it to many people. I keep badgering them to come. The first thing I talk about is the size of the project, how big it is, the plans and the vision. It’s absolutely amazing for an industrial town like Oldham to have a project like this right in the middle of it. So I tell people about how it’s world leading, the first of its kind in the UK.” Simon, Urban Farm and Environmental Volunteer turned Northern Roots Community Grower and Ranger
If you are interested in corporate volunteering or a Corporate Away Day, please email info@northern-roots.uk for more information.