Partner (Business Support)

Job Description

Location

We’re a digital first employer, located in Stirling, happy to be flexible if you’re based in the UK.

Job Details

Application Deadline: Sunday, July 5, 2026.

Vacancy Type: Full Time Fixed Term.

Salary: £51,729 – £57,476 (With candidates usually being offered the starting salary for the grade unless they have significant experience).

Duration: Until 30th June 2027.

Job Summary

As a key member of the Business Support team, this role is responsible for developing, delivering and continuously improving progressive, system-focused business support activities that help drive the adoption of circular economy practices (CEPs) in Scotland. Working across Scotland’s wider business support landscape, the role builds strong partnerships, identifies opportunities, gathers insights and learning, and helps shape how support for circular economy practices is developed both within Zero Waste Scotland and across external networks. The role is responsible for stakeholder engagement, partnership development and providing specialist expertise that helps connect people, ideas and opportunities, ensuring support is innovative, joined up and focused where it can have the biggest impact.

Qualifications

• You are educated to degree level or equivalent and/or relevant professional qualification. Where this is not held, you have extensive relevant experience and the ability to apply and share knowledge effectively.
• You have proven experience in designing and delivering business support and interventions that drive behavioural or organisational change within businesses.
• You have strong experience building and managing relationships with a range of stakeholders;including businesses, partners and delivery organisations.
• You bring experience of working collaboratively to develop and deliver activity through partnerships.
• You have experience of managing commissioned activity, including public sector procurement process and contract management of external suppliers.
• You can demonstrate an ability to take ownership of work, using initiative to develop and improve approaches.
• You have an understanding of circular economy principles, or the ability to quickly develop this knowledge in a business context.
• You have strong communication skills, with ability to engage, influence and present to a range of audiences.
• You are experienced in monitoring, evaluating and learning from activity to inform continuous improvement.
• You have strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage a varied workload and deliver high-quality work to agreed outcomes.
• You have experience of working across a complex multi-partner landscape.
• You have a working knowledge of the Scottish business support landscape.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the design, delivery and continuous improvement of business support interventions that help drive the adoption of circular economy practices in Scotland.
• Work as part of the Business Support team to deliver Zero Waste Scotland’s business support offer and contribute to the organisations corporate plan.
• Build and manage effective relationships with businesses, partners and stakeholders, identifying opportunities to collaborate.
• Engage with the wider business support landscape in Scotland to gather insights, share learning and influence how support for businesses is developed and delivered.
• Develop and manage partnerships and commissioned activity, including leading procurements, contracts and frameworks where required.
• Apply systems thinking to identify where support can have the greatest impact.
• Represent Zero Waste Scotland externally, including facilitating workshops, contributing to events and engaging with stakeholders.
• Monitor, evaluate and learn from activity, using insight and evidence to improve approaches and inform future work.
• Contribute specialist knowledge and practical expertise to support colleagues, partners and stakeholders.

About Zero Waste Scotland

Zero Waste Scotland is Scotland’s circular economy public body. Since 2014, our work has helped more people understand that the answer to the climate emergency is to consume less. Through an expansive range of projects and programmes, our innovative work has shown that embedding circular practices is as possible as it is essential. Through sharing this knowledge, nurturing relationships, and fostering bold collaboration, we’re in a truly unique position to influence this vital change.

Here at Zero Waste Scotland, we value our people and are committed to nurturing and supporting them to learn, grow and develop so we can focus our efforts and be a collective force of unique colleagues creating positive change. As an accredited Investors in Diversity organisation, we are committed to embedding FREDIE principles (Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement) across all that we do at Zero Waste Scotland.

Benefits

We offer competitive pay and benefits to support you and your family, including a contributory pension scheme, life assurance, wellbeing support, flexible working, generous holidays, enhanced family leave entitlements, continuing professional development (CPD) and volunteering opportunities.

For us, work isn’t a place we go, but a thing we do so we fully embrace flexibility and encourage you to choose home working where the role allows. While this role is home based there may be the requirement for some travel to/within Scotland. There will be times when you are required to attend our Stirling office or a client location (normally within the Central Belt of Scotland). The office is located next to the railway station and is conveniently accessed from across central Scotland.