Bike Engineer

Common Wheel; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Common Wheel in Glasgow is seeking a committed Bike Engineer to join our charity’s bike workshops. The role involves repairing and building bikes, including custom builds, and delivering hands-on training to participants in a supportive setting.

The successful candidate will combine practical bike repair skills with customer service and light IT/admin duties to help us extend opening hours and engage people recovering from mental illness.

Qualifications

• Experience in bike repair and customer service.
• Ability to use IT systems for admin tasks.
• Willingness to train participants and share knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Repair and service bikes, including custom builds and re-cables.
• Provide friendly customer service in a bike workshop setting.
• Assist with wheel building, mudguard fitting and general bike maintenance.
• Support funders with administrative tasks and maintain workshop records.

Skills

Bike repair

Customer service

IT skills

Tools

Bike workshop tools

Job description

BackgroundCommon Wheel is a 25 year old Registered Charity, based in Glasgow, providing meaningful activity for people recovering from or experiencing mental illness.

Our Programmes of activity include; Arts, Music, Climbing, Gardening, Bike Building and our own highly varied Drop In Programme delivered from our own premises at the Gartnavel Hospital, The Nook in Glasgow and other community facilities.

Our Bike Building Programme (BYOB) is delivered from our well respected and long-established Bike Workshops in Maryhill and Bridgeton.

Our Bike Workshops are staffed by our existing Bike Engineers and are supported by our team of volunteer Bike Engineers. In addition to being commercial Bike Workshops offering bike sales and repairs, our workshops are also highly supportive, training workspaces where we deliver the Build Your Own Bike Programme.

Due to volume of work, we are currently seeking to recruit a new Bike Engineer who will work across both Bike Workshops ensuring we can have longer opening hours.

Who are we looking for?

We want to find someone who has a passion for bikes and the skills and patience to match. We need someone who can do more than fix bikes. The role is also about passing on your knowledge and passion to improve the lives of people with mental illness.

Our bike repair side is more creative than in other bike workshops. We do many custom builds and seldom sell a bike the way it left the factory. As with any job there will be training in how we do things. We do expect you to be able to re-cable a '90s bike in less than an hour, build wheels, fit mudguards and all the usual bike repair skills. We are also seeking someone with customer service skills, preferably in a bike environment and someone with IT skills as we have admin responsibilities to our funders. Specific bike retail experience would be advantageous.

Ideally, we are seeking someone with a non-judgemental, nurturing, motivational approach who will be able to support our participants as fully as possible, someone who understands the challenges presented by mental illness.

The Bike Engineer will have a full Common Wheel induction and will have access to mental health training including; working with forensic patients, suicide prevention, self-harm and trauma informed practice. You may be asked to take part in the bike subcommittee which is made up of staff, volunteers and board members.