Undergraduate Food Sustainability Policy Co-ordinator
£25,430 plus excellent benefits (Work Level 6C)
Manchester city centre, in this role you’ll work in a hybrid way – splitting your time between home, the office and occasionally travelling to our supplier sites across the UK (find out more about our hybrid working policy at jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy).
12-month work placement (starting June 2027)
We’re looking for a driven and ambitious Undergraduate Food Sustainability Policy Co-ordinator to join us in Manchester on a 12-month work placement. You'll gain hands-on experience supporting a range of activities that help shape Co-op's approach to ethical sourcing, sustainability, and food policy. Working with colleagues from across the business, you'll develop new skills, build your network, and gain practical experience in areas including sustainability projects, supplier engagement, data analysis and responsible sourcing.
As the UK's largest convenience retailer, we're committed to providing high-quality, ethical products at great prices for our millions of customers and members nationwide. In this role, you'll support activities that help deliver our Future of Food commitments, working with colleagues across Co-op and our supply chains to drive positive change. You’ll have the opportunity to make a real difference across our Co-op Own Brand food and drink supply chains, while building your knowledge of sustainability in a major food retailer.
Support sustainability communications, colleague engagement and internal campaigns, such as World Water Day and Fairtrade Fortnight, including helping with copywriting and content creation
Research emerging sustainability, ethical sourcing and food policy topics, keeping up to date with regulation and government, NGO and industry trends
Prepare presentations, reports and recommendations, and support meetings and working groups to share progress, insights and outcomes
Knowledge gained from your second year of an undergraduate degree in International Development, Sustainability, Geography, Human Rights and Social Ethics, Climate and the Environment, or a related subject
At Co-op, we’re owned by our members. And because we’re owned by you, we can do right by you. So when you join us, you’re not just taking a job, you’re joining a movement. We’re an organisation that puts people and communities first, and we’re powered by purpose. We want this to be a place where you can thrive, so you’ll also receive:
We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.
We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.
If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.
You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process
You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme at Disability Confident Scheme - Co-op Colleagues and more about our commitments to diversity and inclusion at Diversity and Inclusion
Please note that we may close applications for this role early.
As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes up to 20 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.
