Community Land Fund Manager in London

Strategic Objectives

• Establish Common as the go‑to organisation for community land acquisitions
• Support the first community land projects to be successful
• Increase the capitalisation of the Community Land Fund
• Launch our BRAVE and ABLE platforms
• Contribute to the structuring and delivery of Common Bioregion 1

Our Strategy for 2026‑2027

Our target is for the acquisition of 250 hectares in community ownership in the next two years of operations, commencing February 2025. We expect this to be comprised of between 3-6 community land projects. These will all be within the UK. By the end of 2027, we will have:

• Raised a targeted £500k Seed‑B funding round (2026)
• Delivered at least two projects per year through the Community Land Fund
• R&D'd and shipped a minimum‑viable tech product for BRAVE, a blended risk and value community MRV platform
• R&D'd and shipped a minimum‑viable tech product for ABLE, an app store for land‑based enterprises
• Published our first impact report, covering natural, social, and commercial value generation and distribution
• Quantified, using both BRAVE and independent validation, the social and environmental return on investment of our Community Land Fund
• Further researched and developed, and progressed towards our 2030 goals
• Raised a £3‑5mn Series‑A funding round (2027)
• Formalised the ‘Nature Supergroup’
• Made progress towards raising a first £500mn Bioregional Financing Facility

Role Overview

Directly reporting to the CEO, your role will encompass all areas of developing this key market intervention, as well as some of the day‑to‑day operational tasks of running Common.

Responsibilities

Pipeline Development

• Further develop and implement our marketing strategy including attendance of relevant industry events to ensure a steady stream of inbound project enquiries
• Conduct due diligence on new leads including assessing the capability and needs of community organisations, and the environmental potential for sites
• Employ and help evolve Common’s ‘Bain Matrix’ for project assessment
• Refer suitable projects for REACH fund grants (England only), and build pipeline for this workstream
• Produce due diligence packs for our funders for internal sign‑off where required
• Negotiate with landowners and agents on behalf of communities
• Liaise with and promptly answer queries from our solicitor for sites in conveyancing
• Complete all loan documentation needed to complete on deals including option agreements with community groups

Portfolio Monitoring

• Work with communities to co‑design project‑bespoke impact monitoring processes
• Conduct quarterly monitoring on projects, tracking community fundraising process against targets and intervene where these may fall behind
• Complete regular reporting to funders
• Produce annual impact reports for funded projects demonstrating uplifts against our 4 Pillars framework
• Monitor funding utilisation and forecasts to ensure funding is effectively recycled into new projects as repayments are made
• Contribute to development of BRAVE, Common’s Community MRV tool

Funding

• Identify new grant and loan opportunities to increase the scale of the CLF
• Progress pre‑identified funding applications to further capitalise the CLF, and provide capacity‑building grants for communities
• Process annual interest payments to lenders

Fund Development

• Work with our lawyers to ensure that, as the facility scales, the fund operates in compliance with all applicable regulations
• Promote the Community Land Fund at events and online
• Develop relationships with funders, landowners, umbrella organisations, and community organisations

General

• Work with the CEO to promote Common as a leading organisation in the UK Nature Recovery sector
• Help maintain the website, with our supplier, which may include producing blog posts, project profiles, and development of web forms etc
• Write, distribute and follow up on contracts including Service Agreements with community organisations for ongoing services
• Assist the CEO, working with our Accountant and Bookkeeper, to ensure invoices are raised and paid, and that quarterly management accounts are produced
• Contribute to quarterly Board and Advisory Board meetings, including production of Board papers

Work will normally be at the London office, at Somerset House. However, you will be free to work from anywhere, with occasional team meetings and strategy days outside London. You will also have the opportunity to spend time visiting communities and wild natural landscapes across the UK. May occasionally be required to travel between different community projects and meetings with partners, or to national or regional events. A driving licence would be advantageous though not essential.

Common’s Community Land Fund enables any community to buy and manage local landscapes. It aligns crowdfunding with institutional investment, vesting long‑term ownership directly in new community‑led organisations. It does so through its pioneering Community Land Fund, co‑designed (and invested) with the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. This wholly‑owned and asset‑locked CIC acquires land on behalf of communities, then supports them to fundraise to acquire from Common, while developing with them land management and nature‑based enterprise strategies for long‑term conservation and economic and social resilience.

You will usually work a standard full‑time week, four days per week, rising to five with the growth of our project portfolio and by mutual agreement. The hours may vary with some evening, weekend, or bank holiday working needed from time to time. You will be registered on the company payroll, and your employment taxes paid. You will receive a company pension (after 3 months of service), proportionate to your days worked. We have a generous options pool, an appropriate portion of which will be offered to you from Year 2.

Selection Criteria

Ideally this will be someone with existing experience in a fund management or financial operations role with a good understanding of working with a broad range of funders (particularly larger social investment organisations in the UK), and communities to help deliver the first projects through this innovative new product.

Benefits

Membership of Somerset House offers discounts and free tickets to many of the cultural and social events regularly taking place in spaces across the building. You will have the opportunity to accompany the team to a range of events in London and nationally during the year.