A Job Opportunity at The Urban Orchardist

Administrative support position for The Urban Orchardist

About The Urban Orchardist (TUO): a registered sole proprietorship founded in 2021 by Matt Soltys, specializing in fruit tree horticulture and edible landscapes. TUO operates a small nursery (organic in practice but not certified) at the north edge of Guelph, with bare-root fruit and nut trees and berry bushes available to customers locally and across Canada. TUO also provides consulting, pruning, design, and occasional planting services to clients in the Guelph / southwestern Ontario region. An emerging aspect to the business is developing a growers network for participatory breeding and genetic conservation & exchange. Currently, one additional staff member works in the nursery once a week. You can learn more about our work at www.theurbanorchardist.com.

TUO is hiring for a part-time administrative support role (10 hours/week) for a six month contract. The wage would be $23/hr. While the primary role would be administrative, there may be opportunities for on-the-job training in fruit tree horticulture (pruning, grafting, integrated pest management, etc.), as well as occasional job shadowing and assistant work at client sites.

Job details:

Work collaboratively to run the client-end and public-facing sides of the business. Fielding emails, communicating with clients, scheduling jobs, invoicing clients, creating newsletters, maintenance of website and online store (editing or creating product pages, tracking inventory, and publishing events and updates, etc.).

Job requirements:

Experience in small business administration– email, website (Shopify), invoicing (Square), a shared online calendar, and public communication strategies and platforms (Instagram, perhaps YouTube, Facebook).

Familiarity with fruit trees, plant propagation, ecological/organic/regenerative farming, and related fields, and a developed sense for how the overall goals and vision of the business fit into the larger cultural context of our time and place.

Excellent communication and organization skills, and comfortable fielding inquiries from potential customers & clients, and doing proactive outreach and networking.

Ideally live in the Guelph area with your own transportation – much of the job could be done remotely, with occasional need to meet at the orchard & nursery, or attend out-of-town jobs.

Hours and pay: 10 hours a week, $23 per hour.

If interested, please email your resume and a cover letter with references to matt@theurbanorchardist.com.