Air Pollution Project Manager (self-employed)

Parents for Future Scotland; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 13,000 - 16,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hours

Self-employed contract

Edinburgh-based role

Job summary

Parents for Future Scotland is hiring a self-employed Air Pollution Project Manager to lead an Active Travel and Clean Air Project across 10 Edinburgh schools. The role combines project management, community engagement and partnership development.

You will work with parents, schools, Edinburgh City Council and local partners, to increase active travel, build walking and bike buses, deliver air-pollution awareness activities and empower parents to lead sustainable change beyond the project.

Qualifications

• You must be able to competently ride a bike.
• Qualified Cycle Ride Leader and First Aid trained, or willing to undertake these qualifications.
• Ambassador on the ground with ability to motivate others.
• Experience delivering and managing community projects.
• Ability to tailor messaging to different audiences.
• Proven track record building relationships with partner organisations, communities facing barriers and local councils.
• Experience coaching and empowering communities and running workshops and discussions.
• Experience with monitoring, evaluation and report writing.
• Understanding of active travel, public health or environmental issues.
• Understanding of social justice perspectives and climate systems.

Responsibilities

• Onboard schools with learning for sustainability lead to participate in the project.
• Set expectations with schools for project participation and delivery.
• Build relationships with school staff to support delivery and promotion.
• Identify and up-skill community leads in each school community.
• Support running active travel schemes in mornings during term time.
• Develop bespoke active travel action plans for participating schools and an overall work plan.
• Encourage peer-to-peer learning among school groups.
• Build a pool of volunteers to deliver air pollution workshops.
• Post on socials and participate in WhatsApp community.

Skills

Bike riding

Cycle Ride Leader

First Aid trained

Community project delivery

Stakeholder engagement

School engagement

Monitoring & evaluation

Public health knowledge

Social justice

Job description

Air Pollution Project Manager (self-employed) – Edinburgh

3 days a week

Are you experienced in building community power and running projects which support communities facing barriers to build their efficacy?

Are you passionate about raising the voices of communities that are most affected by climate but which are least often heard? If so we’d love to hear from you!

We are particularly keen to hear from people who experience marginalisation and minoritisation or who are often excluded from decision‑making processes. For example, people of colour; people from working‑class backgrounds; people from LGBTQ and migrant communities; care‑experienced young people and people with disabilities.

About us

Parents for Future Scotland became a charity two years ago as a result of grassroots parent organising and is now a small self‑employed staff team with a growing network of activists. We seek to make climate action the norm among all parents in Scotland. We are in the midst of a big step change, increasing our influence and reach across the country, and we need you to help us in doing so.

About the role

We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly‑motivated Community Project Manager to lead the delivery of our Active Travel and Clean Air Project across 10 Edinburgh schools. This role combines project management, community engagement and partnership development. You will work directly with parents, schools, as well as local council and community partners to increase active and sustainable travel, establish and strengthen walking and bike buses , deliver air‑pollution awareness activities and build long‑term community leadership. The successful candidate will play a key role in supporting schools to develop tailored action plans, empowering parents to lead change within their communities and ensuring active travel schemes become sustainable beyond the life of the project.

Key responsibilities

• Work with the Learning For Sustainability lead within Edinburgh City Council to onboard schools where necessary.
• Set clear expectations with schools on what they will need to deliver in order to take part in our clean air project.
• Establish excellent relationships with key staff in schools and maintain regular contact in order to support the delivery and promotion of the project.
• Identify and up‑skill community “leads” within each school community, giving them the skills/confidence to organise and lead their own self‑sustaining active travel initiatives.
• Support the running of active travel schemes on the ground in the mornings term‑time (Mon – Friday) until they become self‑sustaining.
• Develop bespoke active travel action plans for each participating school and an overall work plan/strategy which demonstrates how the project will meet wider organisational goals.
• Encourage peer‑to‑peer learning and knowledge sharing amongst school groups.
• Build a pool of volunteers who can deliver air pollution workshops in schools through (1) training volunteers in workshop facilitation skills and the content of our air pollution workshops (2) setting up workshops with participating schools
• Post on our socials regularly and be an active member on our WhatsApp community
• Monitor project outcomes and ensure delivery against targets.
• Maintain accurate records, collect monitoring data and contribute to project reporting.
• Work closely with partner organisations, local authorities and schools to maximise project impact.
• Promote a strong understanding of Parents For Future Scotland amongst parent communities, within your local authority and with partner organisations, and support parents to become organisation members.
• Share learning and best practice through local and national networks.
• Contribute to wider discussions on active travel, climate action and public health.

Skills and experience

• You must be able to competently ride a bike.
• You must be a qualified Cycle Ride Leader and First Aid trained, or be willing to undertake these qualifications. Appropriate training will be provided for those who do not currently hold them.
• The candidate will be our ambassador on the ground. It is vital that they feel inspired by our vision, mission and aims, and that they have a proven ability to motivate and inspire others.
• Experience of delivering and managing community projects.
• Proven ability to tailor messaging to different audiences.
• Proven experience of creating strong relationships with partner organisations, communities facing additional barriers and local councils.
• Proven experience of building the skills, confidence and capacities of communities.
• Experience of devising and facilitating workshops, meetings and community discussions.
• Experience of conducting monitoring and evaluation and report writing.
• An understanding of active travel, public health, environmental issues or behaviour change.
• An understanding of social justice perspectives and the systems that cause climate breakdown

Desirable

Previous experience of working on sustainability and/or active travel‑related community projects or initiatives.

What we offer

• 3 days per week on a self‑employed basis at £200 per day for 24 weeks (term‑time) from Sep 2026 – 31st March 2027 (£14,400 in total)
• The role is likely to be extend beyond March 2027, subject to funding. We are currently developing our staffing model for the programme and hope to establish longer‑term roles beyond summer 2027
• Flexible work environment with flexible hours. The role will require the successful candidate to be available for at least three school commute mornings per week during term time (Monday–Friday). There may be occasions when additional mornings are required, depending on project needs. For this reason, we will only consider applicants who live in or near Edinburgh.
• Working from home (with team check‑ins regularly).
• We are a fledgling organisation, so your skills/expertise will help shape our direction.