Living Rent is continuing to build membership and power across Scotland. And just now, we are hiring a Member Defence Organiser in Edinburgh. You will be supporting members organise in their neighbourhoods to challenge the issues they face and to fight for better housing and a system that works for the common good.
The role entails outreach (doorknocking, phone calling), recruiting members, and supporting members to organise local member defence meetings, direct actions and block campaigns in several neighbourhoods in Edinburgh.
Living Rent has gone from strength to strength in recent years and we continue to build power in communities up and down our country. We hope you will consider joining our growing team!
We are hiring an Edinburgh Member defence Organiser
Overview
Job title: Member Defence Organiser
Location: Edinburgh
Reports to: Lothians Head Organiser
Working hours: 35h/week, 7 hours daily (not including 1 hour’s lunch break) between the hours of 11am and 7pm. Working pattern to be agreed with the line manager.
Contract: 12 months, £14.57-14.97 per hour or annually between £26,524 and £25,252 (pro rata), fixed term, subject to extension.
Start date: November 2026, ideally 16th of November.
Description
Living Rent is hiring a member defence organiser based in Edinburgh to support the growth of the union, with a key focus on recruitment, supporting our member defence teams, organising direct action and leadership development.
The member defence organiser will have a key focus on building strong member defence teams in Edinburgh, supporting members to organise actions and negotiations and win on their cases. You will aim to involve more people in Living Rent at the local and national level, in order to build power in our communities and tenants’ power across Scotland. The role entails outreach (phonebanking, stalls, doorknocking), recruiting members, handling email inquiries, doing one-to-ones with people with housing issues and supporting local member defence teams organising actions and negotiations. On an ad hoc basis, you will be supporting block campaigns as well.
We are looking for someone who is passionate about building real people power and excited about the chance to work for a young, diverse and member-run organisation. Experience in recruitment, training delivery, community education or campaigns is welcome; however enthusiasm, willingness to learn and commitment to social justice are more important than previous experience as training will be provided. This role may suit someone with experience in sales, street fundraising or other customer/public facing work, who wishes to move into organising. The role will entail a lot of desk work (phonebanking).
This post is accountable to Living Rent’s democratic structures and line managed by Living Rent’s Lothians Head Organiser. Living Rent staff members primarily work Monday - Friday between 11am and 7pm, though the work will sometimes need to be done at other times of day, along with some weekends. Some unsocial hours are inevitable and flexibility is vital.
We are a Living Wage employer. Support for the professional development and training of our staff members is a priority for Living Rent and we invest considerable time and resources to achieve this. We are committed to supporting all of our staff members to grow and learn through their role and to implement reasonable adjustments.
Living Rent is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.
Application and Deadlines
- Download and fill in the application form referring to the person and job specification
- Save the completed application form as a word document
- Send it to [email protected] with the subject matter: ‘NAME_MD_Organiser’ by the 4th of October 2026, 6pm. Late applications will not be considered.
- Once you have submitted your application, please complete the equal opportunities monitoring form.
Please note, the interview process will take place over two stages. We will hold a first stage of online interviews on the 9th or 10th of October 2026 which is mandatory to be considered for the position, where we will provide applicants with introduction to the organisation, hands-on collective exercises and an interview.
Short-listed candidates will be asked to a second stage hands-on evaluation and doorknocking session which will take place on the week of the 14th of October.
Application Deadline: 4th of October 2026, 6pm.
1st stage interviews: 8th or 9th of October 2026.
2nd stage interviews: Week of 12th of October 2026.
If you have any questions about the role, please contact Living Rent at [email protected]
About Living Rent
Living Rent is Scotland’s Tenants and Community Union. We are people campaigning for better rights for tenants, protections against rent increases, evictions and poor-quality housing and we represent and defend our members when they are having housing problems or problems in our community. We are not affiliated to any political party and only answer to our members.
By building power and challenging decision-makers collectively, we not only win for our members but we also fight for a housing and political system that puts people before profit. We believe in the collective power of members to fight for their rights together and use diverse tactics – including direct action – to achieve this. Living Rent is affiliated to ACORN International and the International Union of Tenants. We work closely with ACORN England and Wales.
