This is an excellent opportunity for you to join Scottish Book Trust as an Early Years Trainer (TCP Project).

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity that believes books, reading and writing have the power to change lives. A love of reading inspires creativity, improves employment opportunities, mental health and wellbeing and is one of the most effective ways to help break the poverty cycle. We work towards a Scotland where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive through literacy.

What we offer

• Full-time role working flexibly around school term times

• Competitive salary

• Flexible hybrid working between home and our Edinburgh City Centre Office, with great access by train, bus, and tram

• Generous holiday entitlement

• Company Sick Pay

• Pension with 5% employer contributions

• Death in service benefit

• Free access to employee assistance programme

The Early Years (EY) team delivers Bookbug, an evidence-informed programme which aims to promote parent-child bonding and attachment, support children’s language and communication skills, and help their social, emotional and cognitive development through reading, singing and rhyming. Key elements include universal book gifting at four stages, free story, song and rhyme Bookbug Sessions, Bookbug for the Home and community engagement, the Bookbug app, and professional learning opportunities and learning resources for people working with children in their early years.

The Early Years Trainer post will deliver a set program of Early Years training and ongoing support activities for Bookbug practitioners from a broad range of sectors and partner agencies. These include libraries, early education, the NHS and third sector organisations. The training is designed to support professionals to engage families with the benefits of sharing stories, songs and rhymes to promote speech, language and literacy in early years children.

The post holder will also work on discrete projects which support professionals and volunteers with ongoing Bookbug training and development. They will work closely with the Community Engagement Team on specific project work linked to the delivery of the Tackling Child Poverty (TCP) Project.

Other information

The role delivers training during school term time. Due to the variation in school term dates across Local Authorities the advertised dates can be flexible. Statutory holiday will be taken during the school holidays.

Evening and weekend work will be required. For training delivery in more rural and remote locations, overnight stays will be required. Overnight stays will be agreed in advance and will depend on the successful applicant’s home location.

Due to the travel requirement and geographical nature of Scotland’s more remote areas, the applicant must have a full, clean UK driving licence and access to a vehicle insured for business use.

Please note that the training Scottish Book Trust delivers is for adults who work with children and families and does not involve direct work with children.

Appointment will be conditional on securing a Level 1 from Disclosure Scotland.

Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust (FCCT) is a dynamic local charity and social enterprise working to make Fountainbridge a better place to live, work, do business and visit. We deliver projects that promote inclusion, sustainability, and community wellbeing.

Our work includes community boating activities, greenspace development, volunteering programmes, wellbeing walking groups, the Edinburgh Canal Festival, and a growing programme of community events. We are also preparing to open a new Canalside Community Space and to build a new sustainable trip boat for 2026—an exciting period of growth that this role will help bring us to life.

We are now looking for a motivated and skilled General Manager to lead our small, dedicated and experienced team and help shape the next stage of FCCT’s growth.

About the Role

As FCCT’s most senior staff member, you will provide strategic leadership while staying closely connected to day-to-day operations. This is a hands-on and varied role, ideal for someone who enjoys combining big-picture thinking with practical community-focused delivery.

Key responsibilities include:

Leadership & Strategy

• Provide inspiring and inclusive leadership for staff and volunteers
• Work with the Board to deliver strategic and operational plans
• Oversee impact measurement and reporting, including the Annual Report

Governance

• Act as the key link between the Board and staff
• Support strong governance, including acting as Company Secretary

Finance & Fundraising

• Lead financial planning, budgeting, and reporting
• Drive fundraising, major grant applications, and income generation
• Build strong relationships with funders and partners

Operations & People

• Support and line-manage staff and volunteers
• Oversee social enterprise activities, community programmes, and events
• Lead delivery of flagship initiatives such as the Edinburgh Canal Festival
• Contribute to FCCT’s public profile and digital presence
• Participate in the on-call rota as Designated Person Ashore for boat operations

External Relations

• Act as the public face of FCCT
• Build partnerships with local groups, businesses, and stakeholders
• Champion the value of blue and green spaces and community wellbeing

About You

Essential:

• Strong leadership and management experience in a charity, social enterprise, or community setting
• Proven project management and fundraising skills
• Confident with financial information and decision-making
• Excellent people management skills
• Excellent communication and relationship-building abilities
• Able to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational delivery
• Committed to inclusivity, sustainability, and community empowerment

Desirable:

• Experience in community development, volunteering, environmental or heritage projects
• Income generation or social enterprise experience
• Understanding of impact measurement
• Experience supporting volunteers and inclusive participation

What We Offer

• A varied and meaningful leadership role in a friendly, purpose-driven charity
• Flexible working from day one
• Training and development opportunities
• Pro rata holiday allowance including bank holidays
• Christmas shutdown period
• 5% employer pension contribution
• An annual canal boat trip

JOB PURPOSE

The National Trust for Scotland is Scotland’s largest membership organisation and Scotland’s largest charity land manager. We manage many of Scotland’s most significant woodlands, from the extensive Caledonian pinewoods of Mar Lodge to rainforest hazelwood’s in the Hebrides and endemic Whitebeam woodlands on Arran.

As a founding member of both the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest and Caledonian Pinewood Partnership and as a key delivery partners with the Scottish Government for landscape scale ecological restoration of native woodland in Scotland, we are recruiting a post to help drive this exciting work.

You will lead the Trusts outreach for native woodland restoration across Scotland, developing several large scale projects. You will build partnerships with private landowners, communities of place and communities of interest, including other eNGOs and conservation organisations. You will have the backing and support of our nature, fundraising, planning, community engagement, estates and media teams.

The focus of your work will be developing two Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest landscape scale projects in West Lochalsh and on Arran and provide initial contact and support to pinewood managers who look after threatened remnants, to bring their sites into recovery.

We are looking for strong communication & diplomacy skills, which can be influential at a network scale. Someone who can build trust and influence in land management situations, across a diverse range of partners with different interests and objectives. Someone who can develop partnership project plans, acting as the bridge between our internal expertise, existing and new partners. In particular you will develop delivery project content to a “shovel ready” stage, so your fundraising colleagues can draft applications.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Making initial contact, maintaining and/or developing ongoing communication and liaison with external landowners, stakeholders and associated organisations.
• Understanding external landowner’s and communities’ values, objectives and constraints and communicating the Trusts, with a view to building trust, understanding and cooperation in relation to collaborative, nature positive land management.
• Develop collegiate partnership operations and memoranda of understanding with both internal and external stakeholder input and support.
• Liase with internal NTS expertise across multiple disciplines, to inform your delivery of external communications and advice to stakeholders.
• Develop collaborative landscape scale funding bids across multiple estates and landholdings, including both NTS land and externally owned land, in association with the Trusts fundraising team.
• Supporting applications for government grants including Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme, Agri Environment Climate Scheme, Nature Restoration Fund etc.
• Coordinate delivery of landscape scale nature restoration projects across multiple estates and landholdings, including both NTS land and externally owned land, including budget management.
• Procure and manage contracts associated with landscape scale nature restoration projects, monitor delivery of grant conditions and complete grant claims & reports.
• Organise partnership meetings and events to strengthen networks and collaboration within the partnership.
• Write reports for partners and funders showing progress against agreed objectives and funding obligations.