About Shared Assets
What is Shared Assets?
Shared Assets is a UK community-interest company — a self-described "think and do tank" — founded in 2011 to work for a socially just future through practical projects that build new relationships between people and the land. As a CIC, "any surplus we make is reinvested in our mission to make land work for everyone." The organisation's three core work streams are: Research and Learning (building an evidence base for how to work with land for the common good, with project work including Housing Affordability Evidence Scoping Study and Data for Housing Justice); Advice and Support (consultancy creating new business and governance models for landowners, communities, and groups — Land Match England is a current 2024+ programme); and Movement Building (deepening and strengthening the movement of people and organisations managing land for the common good, including the annual Land Justice Gathering). Themes span local economies, farming and food growing, data, policy, parks, planning, woodlands, waterways, and governance. Named clients and collaborators include Power to Change. The work has "social, racial, economic and environmental justice at its heart."
Where will I work?
Fully remote across the UK. The /join-us page is explicit: "As a remote organisation we use lots of online tools alongside regular in-person team meetings." Staff are "distributed around the UK" and "have freedom within their roles to make decisions about how, when and where to best deliver their work." The London Living Wage pay-floor reference reflects the organisation's London CIC registration, but the team works from wherever each staff member is based across Britain.
What is the Shared Assets team like?
Small, intentionally flat, and ambitiously collaborative. Three named staff currently lead the day-to-day delivery: Caio Katz (Advice & Support Coordinator), Hannah Fenton (Resourcing & Relationships Coordinator), and Christabel Buchanan (Movement Building Coordinator). The board brings deep cross-sector expertise to bear on governance: Ben Qasim Monks is a Sussex farmer who previously spent 15 years producing theatre, film, and music (executive director of Improbable, whose work includes Philip Glass's operas Satyagraha and Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera House, and My Neighbour Totoro with the RSC/Barbican); he guest-teaches anthropology at UCL and is a Green Party campaign manager and trustee of the CLA Charitable Trust. Louise Armstrong is a changemaker, facilitator, systems-change designer, and "process doula" who has co-founded The Decelerator. Kate Swade was the organisation's Co-Director for 10 years before transitioning to a board role; she's launching the Digital Commons Cooperative. Simon Ruston holds a Doctorate in planning law, has provided expert evidence in the higher courts, and has appeared at Local Plan inquiries. Julia Beart is a 20-year non-profit and social-enterprise CEO/NED/Trustee who founded Pragmatic Radicals to focus on transformational governance.
The operating philosophy is one of the more radical on the UK CIC scene: "We are building a self-managing and mutually supportive and accountable team where everyone has autonomy. We're working towards a flat structure with organisational circles for distributing leadership. We use consent-based decision making and people have freedom within their roles to make decisions about how, when and where to best deliver their work." All paid team members currently earn the same flat salary, and pay rises are set collaboratively across the team.
Work-Life Balance
Shared Assets is explicit on both /about-us and /join-us that this is a four-day-week organisation, and crucially that the pay structure is built around making the four-day week financially sustainable: "We are a 4 day week organisation and our pay policy ensures nobody earns less than the equivalent of a standard 5 day London Living Wage so that everyone in the organisation can afford to work a 4 day week." That sets a baseline above LLW even though the working week is shorter — a deliberate choice to make the policy genuinely accessible rather than nominal. Combined with consent-based decision-making, autonomy within role, remote-first working, and flat pay, the result is a working pattern that prioritises sustainability, stewardship, and the same justice values the organisation works for externally.
Perks and Benefits
What's verified from the published pages:
- 4-day working week — pay-floor calculated against a standard 5-day London Living Wage, so a 4-day salary doesn't drop below LLW equivalence
- Flat pay — all paid team members currently earn the same salary; pay rises set collaboratively
- Remote-first working across the UK, with regular in-person team meetings
- Self-managing flat structure with organisational circles for distributing leadership
- Consent-based decision-making — autonomy within role on how, when, and where to deliver work
- Mission-driven: community-interest company with surplus reinvested in the mission; values social, racial, economic, and environmental justice
- Above London Living Wage baseline
- Small, friendly team (3 named coordinators + 5-member volunteer board)
- Minimum 4 weeks vacation per year plus additional sick days