Each role below has a written brief: what you would do, the rough time commitment, what we look for, and how to apply. Read the one that fits and email us per the apply note. If nothing fits but you want to help, jump to the general volunteer interest form at the bottom.
Recipe tester
Cook a submitted recipe in your own kitchen, in your own equipment, with your own grocery store, and tell us what happened. The most important volunteer role on the site -- contributor recipes do not publish until at least one other cook has made them.
Responsibilities
- Pick up an assigned recipe and shop for it as a normal home cook would.
- Cook the recipe exactly as written, taking notes on anything ambiguous, anything that took longer or shorter than stated, anything that came out differently than the contributor described.
- Photograph at least the finished dish (a phone photo is fine).
- File a one-page test note: what worked, what failed, what you would change, whether you would make it again.
What we look for
- You cook regularly at home -- you do not need to be a professional.
- You are willing to follow a recipe as written before you start improvising.
- You can be honest with a contributor about what did not work.
How to apply
Email a one-paragraph note about the kind of cooking you do most often and any dietary focus. Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
Copy editor
Tighten prose, catch typos, enforce house style. The piece has been through a substantive edit; you are the last set of eyes before it ships.
Responsibilities
- Read each assigned piece for grammar, punctuation, agreement, and consistency.
- Flag tonal lapses (jargon, hedge-stacking, cooking-show breathlessness) without rewriting voice.
- Apply our house style: AP-derived with overrides for serial commas, em-dash spacing, ingredient amounts, and Latin abbreviations.
- Check headlines, deks, captions, ingredient lists, and step numbers -- these are where late errors usually hide.
- Suggest cuts when a paragraph could be tighter; the writer decides.
What we look for
- Demonstrable copy-editing experience or the equivalent obsessive reading habit.
- Comfortable with Markdown and Git (or willing to learn -- we pair-edit through the first three pieces).
- Patience for serial-comma debates.
How to apply
Email a sample of a piece you have copy-edited, before and after. Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
Photographer
Shoot photography for submitted recipes that arrive without it. Hero shot, ideally a step photo or two for the instruction column.
Responsibilities
- Pick up an assigned recipe that needs photography.
- Cook it (or coordinate with a recipe tester who is cooking it) and photograph the finished dish at minimum.
- Shoot a step photo or two if the recipe has a technique-heavy moment.
- Deliver photos in our requested formats (4:3 hero, 1:1 thumbnail) at sensible resolutions.
- Caption each photo briefly.
What we look for
- A working camera (DSLR, mirrorless, or a good phone).
- Comfortable with food styling on a small scale -- nothing fussy, just respectable.
- Portfolio or representative samples we can look at.
How to apply
Email a portfolio link and the kind of cooking you most enjoy photographing. Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
Translator
Translate recipes and articles into other languages so coverage of food culture and technique is not trapped in English. Translations publish under the original author's byline plus a translator credit.
Responsibilities
- Translate full recipes or articles from English into your target language, preserving voice and cadence rather than producing literal word-for-word.
- Convert measurements to the conventions of your target audience (metric, imperial, or both).
- Flag idioms and culture-specific references that need translator notes.
- Add a brief translator's note at the end of any piece that required adaptation choices worth surfacing.
What we look for
- Native or near-native fluency in target language; fluent in English.
- A piece of published translation we can read, even informal.
- Bonus: familiarity with the cuisine or food culture you are translating into.
How to apply
Email naming your target language(s) and including one translation sample (any genre). Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
Events coordinator
Plan and run reader events -- supper clubs, technique workshops, cookbook launches, recipe-testing meetups. We do not yet have a formal events programme; you would help build one.
Responsibilities
- Propose 1-2 events per quarter (topic, format, target audience).
- Coordinate venue, scheduling, RSVPs, and any speaker / chef logistics.
- Wire the events into the site's events calendar and into the newsletter.
- Handle live moderation or hand off cleanly to whoever is moderating.
- Write a brief post-event note for the publication's archive.
What we look for
- Has run at least one public-facing event before, even informally.
- Comfortable being the person who confirms the venue, sends the reminders, and answers the day-of-questions.
- If hybrid: based in or able to travel to a major US metro.
How to apply
Email pitching the first event you would want to run. Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
Community moderator
Read the comment threads, the webmention inbox, and the tip line. Surface what deserves an editorial response, hide what doesn't, escalate harassment.
Responsibilities
- Triage daily / weekly comment + webmention activity. Approve, hide, or flag.
- Apply the community guidelines fairly and consistently.
- Surface comments worth responding to or promoting into a Cook's Letter.
- Escalate harassment, doxxing attempts, or coordinated review-bombing to the editor.
- Maintain the blocklist when it grows.
What we look for
- Calm under provocation. Public-internet veteran.
- Read the community guidelines and agreed with the substance.
- No active fights with subjects of our coverage; conflicts of interest disqualify.
How to apply
Email describing your prior moderation experience and one ambiguous comment thread you would handle and why. Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
Developer / open-source contributor
Help build the publication's underlying static-site stack. The whole codebase is on GitHub; we accept issues and PRs from anyone.
Responsibilities
- Pick up open issues on the-umami-post repo.
- Submit PRs with tests and clear commit messages.
- Review other contributors' PRs.
- Improve docs as you go -- the README, CONTRIBUTING, and EDITORIAL guides are all in-repo.
What we look for
- Familiar with Eleventy, Nunjucks, plain CSS, or willing to come up to speed.
- Public GitHub history we can read.
- Bonus: accessibility work, performance work, or design-system experience.
How to apply
Open a PR or an issue on the the-umami-post repo with your name on it; we will find you. Send to hello@theumamipost.com with the role name in the subject line.
General volunteer interest
Want to help but don't see the right slot above? Tell us what you would want to do and what time you have. We read every note. If we have something that fits, we will write back; if we do not, we will say so cleanly.