Location: Sheffield (at least 2 days/week in person), with travel to Scotland
Start Date: ASAP - freelance to begin with, converting to permanent in December
Compensation: £24,000 - £30,000 per year depending on experience
Days/week: 4 or 5 days/week possible (the above assumes 5 days)
Who We Are
Trellis is an early-stage startup providing AI-powered IT solutions to the Scottish education sector. We are backed by CivTech and the Scottish Government Directorate for Learning.
Our mission is simple: Streamline admin. Support learning. We're a tight-knit team of 5 who believe technology should make teachers' lives easier.
We're guided by three core values: empathy, craftsmanship, and integrity.
The Role
We're looking for someone who thrives on variety and wants to make a real difference in education. This isn't a typical desk job - you'll wear many hats, supporting the team across four key areas:
Machine Learning Evaluation (~25%): Review AI-generated educational content against Scottish teaching standards. No technical background needed - just a keen eye for quality and unending curiosity.
User Research (~25%): Travel to schools across Scotland every 4-7 weeks (in a supporting role to begin with). We'll interview teachers, parents, and pupils about their experience, and help the whole team understand what teachers really need.
Customer Support (~25%): Provide first-line support to teachers using our app during pilot phases. You'll be the friendly face that helps solve problems and gathers feedback.
Team Operations (~25%): We have a diverse team with distinct strengths, but needing some support with admin and organisation. You'll help colleagues with planning ahead, checking in on tasks & deadlines, and handling logistics like travel booking and equipment ordering.
Don't worry if you don't have experience of all of the above - you'll get lots of shadowing, coaching and other support to learn on the job.
What You Bring
Essential:
* Mission alignment: You genuinely care about improving education and reducing teacher workload
* Adaptability: You're energised by variety and comfortable switching between different types of work
* Tech-savvy: Enthusiastic computer user who picks up new software quickly (comfortable with spreadsheets, new apps, online tools)
* Interpersonal skills: Excellent at listening, empathetic, patient, and non-judgemental
* Organisational superpowers: You love creating order from chaos and helping others get organised. You can take in unstructured information and propose sensible next steps in real time
Desirable:
* Experience working with young people (teaching, youth work, tutoring, etc)
* Interest in developing skills towards machine learning or software engineering roles (we'd love to support this growth)
Why Join Us?
Impact: Your work directly helps teachers spend less time on paperwork and more time with learners. Every task you complete makes a real difference.
Growth: We're committed to your development. With structured weekly 1-1s and personal development planning, you'll gain valuable and broad-ranging skills. You'll report to Angela Bradbury (Chief Operating Officer / Project Manager).
Team: Work closely with Andy (Founder & Product Manager), Harriet (Machine Learning Engineer), Dani (Software Engineer) and Thomas (Fractional CTO). This team has already delivered award-winning AI projects for Citizens Advice Scotland and the NSPCC.
Flexibility: While we value in-person collaboration (minimum 2 days/week in Sheffield with Angela), we're flexible about how you structure your work around travel and project needs.
Values-driven: For example, we created a compensation framework from a team consultation, and we run a blind hiring process.
The Process
Because of how our budget works, this role will start with a 2-month freelance contract, then convert to permanent employment in December if there's a good mutual fit. You'll need to bring your own laptop initially - we'll provide one if you join permanently.
Interested? Fill out our application form by 12th October 2025:
Trellis is committed to equality and welcomes applications from all backgrounds. We particularly encourage applications from people with lived experience of additional support needs / SEND in their schooling.
Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Permanent, Freelance, Graduate
Pay: £24,000.00-£30,000.00 per year
Expected hours: 30 – 37.5 per week
Benefits:
* Casual dress
* Company pension
* Employee mentoring programme
* Flexitime
* Free or subsidised travel
* Profit sharing
* Sick pay
* Work from home
Application question(s):
* Have you submitted your application via
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Sheffield S1 2JP