General Building jobs in Aberystwyth

APPLY HERE AND SEE FULL APPLICATION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION

https://www.porthiaber.co.uk/vacancies

Hours of work: 12 hours per week (1.5 days)
Duration of contract: Fixed-term anticipated mid/late October 2026 to mid/late April 2027 (6 months)
Gross Pay: 12 hours per week = £937.50 per month (£30,000 per annum pro rata, based on a 32 hour FTE)
Pension: Porthi Aber uses the Nest Pension Scheme for making pension contributions Holiday entitlement: 5.3 days inclusive of bank holidays over the fixed-term period (Bank holidays are not automatically booked off)
Working days: TBC - Please note, an average of 12 hours per week across the contract, with hours varying according to the programme of community dining events, workshops and product-development activity.
Employer: Porthi Aber (Porthi Aber is the trading name of Aber Food Surplus Ltd), Aberystwyth, Wales
Responsible to: Directors / Project Team / Volunteer Team
Application closing date: Thursday 1st October 2026 - 09.00. Late applications will not be considered.
Interview dates: Thursday 8th October 2026 The role will be carried out at the Porthi Aber hub (Hwb Porthi Aber) at 5 Great Darkgate Street in Aberystwyth.

About Porthi Aber:

Porthi Aber, recently re-branded from Aber Food Surplus in December 2025, is a community-led, environmentally motivated, not-for-profit social enterprise based in Aberystwyth. Our new and updated vision is to co-create a thriving and positive future for people, planet and community. Our mission is to deliver empowering and creative community-led change to improve the food system and facilitate positive climate action. We have 5 new mission areas which focus on practical responses to big issues and deliver this with community and volunteer empowerment at its core - with a strong emphasis on co-creation and participation. These 5 new mission areas are Tyfu (meaning “grow” or “growing”), Cylchol (meaning “circular”), Lleol (meaning “local”), Casglu (meaning “gather”), Dysgu (meaning “learn” or “learning”). Our work is rooted in circular economy thinking and contributes to building a more regenerative, equitable, and resilient food future. The impact of our work enables social, cultural and environmental benefits and support for our local food economy, aligning us with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. https://www.porthiaber.co.uk/ 1

About the role:

This role is centred around making quality, nutritional food accessible to a wider range of people. This will be through delivering community meals on a Pay What You Can basis, alongside developing a range of affordable frozen ready meals using seasonal produce. This role has come about due to short-term (6 month) funding from the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) for the project entitled “Local food for local people - community dining at Hwb Porthi Aber”. The successful applicant will plan, prepare and deliver a series of simple, high-quality, nutritious and affordable meals for the local community. The role requires someone who is an experienced and confident cook, but equally importantly someone who understands that a community food project is about local food, people, inclusion, as well as producing great food.

Central to the role is using the community meals as a platform to test different meal ideas with the public that can be developed into a range of nutritious frozen meals to be sold via the Bwyd Dyfi Hub (Porthi Aber’s local online shop). Collecting feedback, developing the product and producing a finished test batch of meals is included within this role and one of the main outcomes of this project. Additionally, the role will also involve delivering 2 cooking workshops in the 6 month period.

The successful candidate will be able to work creatively with seasonal and locally available ingredients, manage a kitchen safely and efficiently, and produce meals consistently within an agreed budget and timeframe. Additionally the candidate will be personable and experienced working alongside a diverse volunteer team. The role will be supported by a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator, who will ensure there are sufficient volunteers to help with marketing, preparation, delivery and clean-up of the meals - who have been inducted to and familiar with the space and food safe processes; as well as supporting the logistics of the community meals.

Community dining / meals:

The role will involve delivering weekly community dining events, totalling 12-14 sessions over 6-months. These will ideally be delivered in blocks, and could alternate between lunches and evening dining events to be as inclusive as possible and capture different audiences. Both decisions lay at the successful candidate's discretion, together with the Porthi Aber existing team, for what would best suit the product development component. The Chef will lead food preparation and kitchen operations for community dining events, working alongside Porthi Aber staff and volunteers who will support the event set-up, serving, front-of-house and clear-down.

Community dining tasks include (but not limited to)

- Designing menus for a series of community lunches and evening dining events, with a view to gaining feedback on the meals to produce a range of frozen meals. - Choosing ‘favourite’ meals for further development - Sourcing and ordering produce for events and ready meals - Preparing and cooking the meals alongside volunteers - Adhering to and undertaking paperwork relating to food hygiene and health and safety standards, including preparation of food and management of kitchen and hub spaces - Inspiring and working with the team of volunteers on the day. - Working with Porthi Aber staff to plan and deliver the events

Frozen ready meal development (but not limited to)

- Designing meals that can be frozen and offered for sale through Bwyd Dyfi hub - Obtaining feedback from the community lunches/dinners and developing a range of (2-3) products, taking into account feedback received - Costing up the production cost of the frozen meals - Liaising with Food Centre Wales regarding nutritional content for labelling - Undertake RA/Food hygiene/Safety in relation to creation of frozen ready meals for sale - Writing a standard operating procedure for the creation of recipes for frozen meals inc safety & recipe / methods Cooking workshops - Plan and deliver 2 inspiring cooking workshops for the general public that involve seasonal and local produce (time, dates and duration to be determined)

Person Specification

We are looking for someone with a pro-active approach with a genuine interest in good food and its role in supporting community wellbeing through community dining events, cooking workshops and the development of accessible frozen ready meals. You will have a commitment to making healthy food accessible and enjoyable and be able to design seasonal meals, using local/organic/UK ingredients working within a fixed budget. You’ll be able to balance nutritional quality, cost, sustainability and what people enjoy eating.

As an inclusive employer, we encourage applications from people from all walks of life; if you are excited about the role but feel you do not fully meet all the essential criteria, but can see yourself excelling in the role, do feel welcome to apply.

APPLY HERE AND SEE FULL APPLICATION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION

https://www.porthiaber.co.uk/vacancies

Pay: £18.02 per hour

Expected hours: 12.0 per week

Benefits:

• Discounted or free food

Work Location: In person