Guelph Farmers' Market

Position: Farmers' Market Lead
Organization: 10C Shared Space | Guelph Farmers Market
Location: Fully onsite in downtown Guelph (at both 10C Shared Space and the Guelph Farmers' Market)

10C is hiring - are you our new Farmers’ Market Lead?

The Farmers’ Market Lead is a rewarding community-engaged role. No two days look the same. One morning you might be reviewing vendor applications and stall layouts, confirming compliance details, and updating revenue forecasts; by midday you’re responding to vendor questions, coordinating with Public Health, and shaping content for the market newsletter.

On market days, you’re onsite early—overseeing set-up, troubleshooting electrical or weather-related issues, supporting staff and volunteers, and checking in with vendors as the space comes alive. You’re watching flow, sales patterns, and customer experience in real time, making small adjustments that have a big impact. Between markets, you’re deep in systems—contracts, data tracking, budgets, vendor communications, marketing content, and future programming—while fielding inquiries, planning new revenue-generating activities, and improving processes so the next market runs better than the last. It’s logistical, relational, and high-accountability work—and deeply satisfying if you like complex operations that matter.

We are Hiring: Farmers’ Market Lead

10C Shared Space is a non-profit community hub that brings people together around food, social enterprise, and shared infrastructure. We support local food producers, entrepreneurs, and community builders by creating places where good ideas—and good food—can thrive. The Guelph Farmers’ Market is a key part of this work: it’s an economic engine for food creators, a welcoming public space, and a critical local access point for fresh, local food.

The Opportunity

10C Shared Space is seeking a detail-oriented, people-centred, and enterprising leader to steward and grow the Guelph Farmers’ Market. This is a senior, hands-on role for someone who is energized by systems, logistics, and revenue growth, and motivated by supporting farmers, food, beverage and arts creators, and vibrant community spaces.

The Farmers’ Market Lead is responsible for the overall performance, integrity, and evolution of the Market. You will treat the Market as both:

• an enterprising business platform that must be financially strong, well-run,
  efficient, and continuously improving, and
• a cared for community ecosystem that supports small producers, builds engagement with customers, and reflects 10C’s community oriented mission.

The Farmers’ Market Lead oversees the full operation of:

• the Saturday Guelph Farmers’ Market (year-round),
• Thursdays at the Market (smaller scale CSA-focused),
• and additional market activations, events, and innovative uses of the Market building.

This role sits at the intersection of operations, revenue generation, vendor relations, regulatory compliance, marketing, facilities oversight, and people leadership. It requires comfort holding many moving parts at once, making sound decisions in real time, and building systems that allow others to succeed. If you get satisfaction from creating a perfectly balanced vendor mix, a clean spreadsheet, a smoothly run market day, and hearing that a producer’s sales increased this season—you’ll feel at home here.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead the Market as a Business

• Own the financial performance of the Market, including budgets, forecasts, vendor fees, stall allocation strategy, seasonal planning, and earned revenue growth.
• Identify and lead new revenue-generating activities, while maintaining affordability, access, and mission alignment.
• Track and analyze market data (sales, attendance, vendor mix, participation trends) to inform decisions and long-term planning.

2. Design and Run Strong Systems

• Ensure smooth, well-documented market-day operations through excellent logistics, planning, and follow-through.
• Build, administer, and continuously improve systems for vendor applications, onboarding, contracts, invoicing, payments, insurance tracking, compliance, scheduling, and communications.
• Reduce friction and increase engagement for vendors, staff, and volunteers through clear processes, expectations, and tools.

3. Vendor Relations, Curation & Compliance

• Recruit, retain, and support a diverse mix of farmers, food and beverage producers, and artisans, with an emphasis on local, high-quality products.
• Serve as the key contact for vendors: responding to inquiries, maintaining waitlists, hosting vendor meetings, and troubleshooting issues with clarity and care.
• Administer and develop all Market guidelines and policies, including Vendor Handbooks and License Agreements.
• Act as liaison between vendors and Guelph Wellington Dufferin Public Health, ensuring compliance with current regulations, best practices and food safety.

4. Create a Market People Want to Show Up For

• The Guelph Farmers’ Market is already well-loved. You will continue to shape the customer experience, including layout, flow, signage, atmosphere, and accessibility.
• Collaborate with the 10C team on market positioning, promotions, seasonal programming, and storytelling.
• Create and support market communications, including newsletters, social media, vendor profiles, and promotional campaigns.
• Proactively engage community stakeholders, co-presenters, and partners to deepen the Market’s role as a welcoming, inclusive community space.

5. Team Leadership & Market-Day Operations

• Supervise Market Assistants, Attendants, Cleaners, and volunteers.
• Lead all aspects of weekly market set-up and take-down.
• Model accountability, kindness, and respond to issues in real time with professionalism, empathy, and clarity.

6. Community Events & Space Activation

• In collaboration with the 10C team, support and lead additional markets, events, meetings, and creative uses of the Market building.
• Work with community members to plan events, ensuring appropriate staffing, event set-up and take-down, and follow up post-event for feedback and rebooking.
• Support the development of DIY systems and processes that enable community-led use of the space.

7. Building, Site & Facility Oversight

• Oversee the day-to-day operation of the Market site at 2 Gordon Street, Guelph.
• Maintain an accurate supplier list and ensure preferred pricing on contracted services. Liaise with City of Guelph contacts as relevant.
• Monitor cleaning, maintenance, and repairs; coordinate with internal staff and external contractors; and support long-term facility planning.

What You Bring

You might come from food systems, farmers’ markets, events, hospitality, retail, social enterprise, or operations—and you likely share these qualities:

• Food-curious and community-oriented: you care about producers, local food systems, and public spaces that matter.
• Detail-obsessed and systems-minded: you notice what’s not working and enjoy process changes to improve flow.
• Revenue-aware and enterprising: you understand that mission requires financial strength and enjoy growing earned income responsibly.
• People-savvy: you can hold boundaries, give clear feedback, and build trust with vendors, staff, and community members.
• Comfortable with complexity: weather, regulations, competing priorities, and live environments energize rather than overwhelm you.
• Values-aligned: you want your work to contribute to community wellbeing.

Experience & Abilities

• Experience in the food industry and/or farmers’ markets is essential.
• Demonstrated success in logistics-heavy, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Experience with community-facing roles; non-profit experience is an asset.
• Experience using software tools such as market management software, Google Workspace, Slack, Quickbooks, Square, POS or CRM systems.
• Comfort with marketing and communications, including newsletters and social media; basic graphic design is an asset.
• Ability to perform some physical labour (tables, tents, furniture set-up).
• Safe Food Handling certification is an asset (or willingness to obtain).
• Valid G or G2 drivers license is an asset.

We recognize that no candidate will bring every qualification listed. If you have approximately 80% of the experience, or believe you could do this job well, we encourage you to apply.

10C is committed to learning, equity and building a diverse community in which everyone has the opportunity to thrive. We welcome team members with the knowledge and skills to productively work with diverse communities. 10C specifically encourages applications from those across race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, and lived experiences. 10C values lived experience alongside educational and workplace experience. If you are comfortable highlighting your lived experience in your application, this will help us consider your application in a holistic way.

Compensation & Details

• Full-time, permanent position.
• Salary: $55,000–$58,000, based on 37.5 hours/week.
• You will have the opportunity to be a part of 10C’s extended health benefits program for you and/or you and your family. Full details about the plan will be through Beneplan/Co-operators after the 3 month probationary period.
• You will be entitled to ten (10) paid days of vacation in each fiscal year of employment, plus 2 paid ‘flex’ days and 3 paid sick days per year.
• This is a fully onsite role at both 2 Gordon Street and 42 Carden Street in downtown Guelph
• Schedule includes evenings and weekends, including these core times:

  • Saturdays: 6:00am–3:00pm (year-round)

  • Thursdays: 3:00pm–7:00pm

• Should you need any form of workplace accommodation in order to perform your work more effectively, please let us know.

Application deadline: 5:00pm Saturday, January 31, 2026

APPLY

Please submit your information via our application form here:
https://form.fillout.com/t/mrpV5FffHDus

Please mention you saw this at rcen.ca or goodwork.ca.

Interviews will be held on a rolling basis. All interviewed candidates will receive a $75 stipend in recognition of their time. Interview questions will be shared in advance.

For more information visit the posting at: https://10carden.ca/...