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Staff Vacancies

Join the team

Sunseed is run by voluntary staff members. Coordinators' contracts last for a year, while assistants come for 3 or 6 months (both can be extended). You will find the upcoming vacancies and the general work conditions below.
If you are interested in a certain position, please do apply as eventually it will be open.

Now recruiting:

Maintenance Coordinator

The responsibilities of the Maintenance Coordinator include supervision of the volunteers who are keen to help with the building work, often having more enthusiasm than skills, as well as the application of clear Health and Safety standards. There are also many opportunities to offer new ideas to improve the running of the project and working with other departments.

Core Responsibilities
  • Assisting and supervising volunteers in carrying out tasks
  • Building maintenance and improvements
  • Plumping experience
  • Aceqeiro (water way) maintenance
  • General repairs to roofs, floors, doors, etc
  • Plastering, painting and finishing with a lime wash
  • Tools and materials supervision
  • Applying Safety rules
  • Instructing on proper tool use
  • Ensuring unsafe tools are not used
  • Maintaining and repairing tools

Requirements
  • Experience and knowledge of building skills including plumbing repairs, plastering, painting, carpentry, masonry, joinery, etc.
  • Tolerance of hard physical work in hot conditions
  • Ability to organise work schedules
  • Ability to lead and motivate volunteers, who range from those with a wealth of experience to those with little or none.

Desirable Skills
  • Experience with water heating systems
  • Experience with rainwater catchment systems
  • Experience of ecological building
  • Experience in using power tools
APPLY NOW

Upcoming vacancies:

Organic Gardens Coordinator (Spring ’20)

Specific techniques in horticulture are required to work the terrace system, irrigated by an irrigation channel that dates back to the Moorish era. The project currently cares for twelve gardens which produce a wide range of food crops such as tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, garlic, broad beans etc as well as herbs and fruit.
The role of the gardens are:
  1. To provide food for the project
  2. Education and research
  3. To improve environmental integration by maximizing the cycling of our waste materials.
Our gardens are run strictly according to organic principles. Careful soil management is especially important because of the type of soil (alkaline) and the effects of flood irrigation. Our soil is maintained using compost made on site and manures. No artificial chemicals are used, neither to increase fertility nor combat pests.

Working in the gardens is always popular with volunteers (therefore the Gardens Coordinator needs to be able to work and communicate effectively with a wide range of people).

Core Responsibilities
  • Running a department, advising and working with other departments in a busy project
  • Planning and monitoring a departmental budget
  • Assisting and supervising volunteers
  • Documenting work done
  • Monitoring crop yield
  • Planning work to fit in the projects general activities
  • Tool safety, instructing on proper tool use, ensuring unsafe tools are not used
  • Liaising with staff and trustees as required, including regular written reports
  • Liaising with other organic growers and organisations
  • Planning and production of vegetables and fruit on irrigated terraces
  • Using a mixture of methods such as crop rotation, companion planting, inter-cropping
  • Planning sowing and transplanting times
  • Preparing beds and some tree care
  • Greenhouse Management
    • Propagating plants under cover etc
  • Soil Management
    • starting and maintaining compost heaps
    • crop selection
    • mulching
    • proper irrigation techniques
  • Nutrient Cycling
    • managing humanure
    • storing and using urine
    • preparing liquid feeds from local plants
  • Pest Control
    • using organic methods for prevention and treatment
  • Innovation and Research
    • Trialling and developing effective gardening techniques to meet local conditions
    • co-operating with other departments to trial research projects
    • supervising innovative volunteer projects
  • Education and Documentation
    • Running and contributing to Sunseed courses
    • Conducting tours of the department
    • Overseeing volunteers projects
    • Maintaining up to date information
    • Production of written materials in the form of reports, leaflets, web pages, articles etc
    • Supervision of placement students and working visitors
    • Incorporating volunteers into the work and methodology and development of their own projects to satisfactory completion
  • Administration
    • Writing and supervising the production of reports, documenting larger projects, preparing projects proposals, producing literature
    • Inter-departmental co-operation
    • Work as a team to ensure the smooth running of Sunseed
Requirements
  • Experience and knowledge of all aspects of organic growing
  • Tolerance of hard physical work in hot conditions
  • Ability to lead and motivate volunteers, who range from those with a wealth of experience to those with little or none
  • Ability to work in co-operation with other departments

Required skills:

  1. Commitment to Sunseed’s vision, mission and goals

  2. Commitment to environmental stewardship and social change

  3. Willingness to share knowledge and ideas and encourage learning, teaching and community integration

  4. Ability to give short talks and guided tours

  5. Ability to be flexible, co-operative and welcoming to all visitors

  6. Ability to provide mentoring for visitors and supervise their projects

  7. Good communication skills, good spoken and written English

Desirable skills:

  1. Some knowledge of Spanish and willingness to improve language skills

  2. If over 25, a full driving license valid for driving in Spain

  3. Non-violent communication, sociocracy and facilitation knowledge

Benefits

Vegeterian food

Locally sourced mostly organic food included

Paid holidays

24 days of paid holidays per year

Amenities

Internet, cosmetics, detergents, library, etc. provided

Scenic landscape

Unique location within a natural reserve with a natural pool

Coordinator
€ 210

Monthly

APPLY
  • Contract of 12-24 months
  • Accommodation: basic single room
  • 2 paid days off a month
  • 150€ travel assistance at the end of each contract year
All staff are responsible for their own insurance and up-to-date tetanus jabs.
Assistant
€ 26/52*

Monthly

APPLY
  • Contract of 3-6 months
  • Accommodation: basic shared room
  • 40€ travel assistance at the end
  • 2 days paid holidays per month
*26€/month for the first 3 months, 52€/month afterwards. 

Committing to Sunseed 

Living at Sunseed as a community member means more than simply doing your job well. You will be expected to put your environment first and personal needs second.

You will be expected to take part fully in community life, relevant meetings and to assist in duties that are outside of your post like sharing communal duties such as cooking and cleaning, as well as setting a good example in areas such as enthusiasm, safe practices, punctuality and socialising.

All staff participate in the planning and implementation of tasks in their department and contribute to the overall longer-term strategic development of the project.

All staff are responsible for supervising volunteers and implementing the Health and Safety guidelines in all activities. This is of the utmost importance for staff involved in supervising unskilled volunteers in potentially hazardous situations.

All staff are expected to follow and oversee Sunseed’s mission and policies (vegetarian, no-chemical, no-drug), procedures (grievance) and agreements (communal).

Do you think you would fit in with the Sunseed team?