Vacancies and opportunities at Slow Ways

What if there was a network of walking routes that connected all of Great Britain’s towns and cities? That’s what we are making. Want to help us?

Slow Ways is an initiative to create a network of walking routes that connect all of Great Britain’s towns and cities as well as thousands of villages. Ultimately we want to inspire and support more people to walk and wheel, more often, further and for more purposes. 

We’ve made a great start. So far volunteers have created nearly 8,000 routes that stretch for over 120,000km. Our current phase of work is focussed on engaging people from across Great Britain to walk, review and survey all these routes.

Want to join us? Great! All of our current vacancies are detailed below and they will always be advertised here first.

---

Community Lead

(London or Exeter, permanent part-time, 3 days per week)

We are looking for someone to guide how we nurture our growing community of staff, volunteers and website users. From walking epic journeys to surveying their local routes, people are at the heart of Slow Ways. We want to support and recognise their endeavours while helping the initiative as a whole to flourish. Far from being just a senior manager, you will need to provide high quality direction and be willing to deliver day-to-day customer service too.

This is a hybrid working role. You will work from our London or Exeter hub at least once a week with bi-monthly meetings taking place in different locations across Great Britain.

For more information and to apply, please click here

Applications for this role will close later than previously advertised - we apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Applications close: 23.59 on Monday, 17th October 2022.

---

We are looking for people who will:

• Care for and contribute to our community’s needs, diversity and cohesion
• Enjoy being outdoors and excited by the idea of using Slow Ways
• Be happy to get their hands (and feet) dirty
• Be playful and willing to experiment with ideas
• Be agile, flexible and open minded

You do not need to:

• Be a “walker”
• Live in the countryside
• Be able to read maps

Inclusion matters to us. We are particularly interested in hearing from people who have lived experience, or experience of working with/for marginalised and minoritised groups.

We are an equal opportunities organisation. All our employment decisions are made without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, citizenship or marital status. You must be located and legally allowed to work in the UK.

Unique benefits of all our roles include:

• Flexible working with job shares considered
• Time and budget to walk or wheel Slow Ways
• Annual training budget and conference allowance
• “Walking leave” bonuses if we hit our targets
• Accruement of one reflective journey day for every year of service

---

Android Developer / Agency

(UK based)

We are looking for an Android developer or UK based Android development house to develop the Slow Ways Android application. The application has already been specced, designed and built by our iOS developer and all the necessary APIs have been created. We require an Android developer to take the iOS app (currently in testing) as a spec and to develop it for the Android platform. Experience of building native feature rich Android apps that consume external APIs and with mapping functionality is essential. Working knowledge of the ESRI Android SDK is desirable.

This is a fixed price contract with an ongoing maintenance and support contract.

For more information please contact our Chief Technologist darren@slowways.org.

Applications close: 23.59 on Friday, 7th October 2022

---

Filmmaker

Wanted: filmmaker to create a short, high quality elevator-pitch film explaining the Slow Ways initiative for our home page, social media, presentations etc.

We envisage the film to be between 60 and 90 seconds long, comprising of filmed footage of a variety of people walking one or more Slow Ways routes through a variety of landscapes. We would ideally like you to direct real volunteers rather than actors, with diversity at the heart of what we are creating. We like the idea of animated maps to show the progress of the network, and can supply the maps.

Are you the person/company for the job? Please send your showreel and a brief pitch to hannah@slowways.org, including a rough budget taking into consideration travel and accommodation expenses and (if applicable) actor, voiceover, sound and music costs. Feel free to email in advance with any questions.

No heartwarming stock ukulele music, summit spreadeagles, or oversaturated shallow depth of field please! 

Applications close: 23.59 on Monday, 10th October 2022

---

Open call for an off-road piano maker!

We want to take an upright piano off road, complete with its own set of wheels. This is for a Slow Ways intervention that will explore access, inclusivity and community on our routes. We are looking for an experienced welder/maker who can design, build and deliver an off-road rolling chassis for this purpose. The rolling chassis should be designed to:

- fit a standard upright piano
- last, and be extremely strong
- go on bumpy long off-road tracks that will include mud and stones, including in challenging hilly environments
- be pushed/pulled by people
- be safe, including a reliable braking system

We will be especially pleased to hear from non-profits and community groups. Please contact us at hello@slowways.org with:

- a quote and timeframe to complete this work
- your experience of delivering similar projects
- a description of how you might go about designing and building this

---