Retail Assistant Role

Posted 05 October 2026

Location: St Peters, Sydney

Job type: Part-Time or Casual (it's your choice): 14 hours per week, core hours on Friday and Saturday, plus additional paid hours during busy periods and to cover staff leave. Note: Hours outside of stated shifts may be required during the training period.

Reports to: Managing Director, Circle Paints

Remuneration: Level 3 Retail Award during training period, Level 4 Retail Award once working independently. Pro-rata annual leave and sick leave based on 20d/10d full-time entitlement if you elect for part-time (not casual) employment.

About Us

Founded in 2022, Circle Paints is Australia's first and only charity dedicated to saving paint from landfill. We have a retail shopfront in St Peters and an online store. We collect and quality-check donated paint, then list it on our online catalogue and sell it at half price. Our mission is to reduce waste and carbon emissions while providing our customers with affordable, high-quality paint.

Our shop is a busy community hub, with a team of wonderful volunteers, mural artists dropping in to buy paint, neighbours stopping by to stock up on paint and drop off donations, and other members of Sydney's reuse community visiting to chat about collaborations.

Job Overview

In this role you will be responsible for the smooth running of day-to-day retail operations. You'll be greeting and supervising new volunteers, providing customer service both in person and online, operating POS software, managing stock volumes and waste disposal, overseeing quality assurance of incoming paint, and performing some regular clerical tasks.

Required Experience and Capabilities

  • Current automatic driver's licence (mandatory)
  • Confident and experienced in customer service in a retail setting
  • Experience using POS and online inventory management systems, and proficient in using Excel or Google Sheets
  • The ability to safely lift weight of up to 24kg on a regular basis
  • Excellent people skills, with proven ability to contribute to a positive team culture
  • An eye for subtle variations in colour
  • Sustainably minded with an appreciation for managing resources responsibly and keeping waste to a minimum.

Desirable Capabilities

  • Experience in DIY or professional painting
  • Experience selling complex product categories

Key Responsibilities

  • Opening and closing our retail shopfront on Fridays and Saturdays, and sometimes on other days during busy periods or if usual team members are absent
  • Handling customer and donor enquiries via phone, email, and from walk-ins to our shop, including learning technical painting basics to enable provision of advice to customers
  • Maintaining the shop in a safe and presentable state, and replacing shop supplies as required
  • Operating POS and entering paint purchases and new products into Shopify
  • Monitoring stock, and ensuring that our online catalogue remains accurate
  • Ensuring regular and sustainable disposal of waste paint and packaging
  • Legally compliant treatment of paint contaminated water
  • Supervising Retail and Waste Warrior volunteers, and ensuring that our shop stays open for all of its advertised hours
  • Custom mixing paint colours for customers and colour matching mystery colours (training provided)
  • Collaborating with social media volunteers to promote Circle Paints by capturing day-to-day scenes in photos and videos
  • Providing a brief written handover to other team members at the end of each working day to ensure positive customer experiences and minimal confusion and double-handling

What we offer

  • Training in paint types, application, and mixing
  • A supportive team and a fun, casual, but professional environment
  • A central inner west location with plenty of public transport options
  • Retail Award Level 3 during training, Level 4 ongoing
  • A social enterprise and not for profit venture that is pioneering sustainable circular practices

How to apply

Applications are assessed as they are received. Please apply as soon as possible.

Applicants must

  1. Upload a resume with relevant work experience
  2. Address the "Required experience and capabilities" in writing so we can clearly establish whether you have the required skills and experience.

Applications that do not meet the criteria listed above will not receive a response. All applications that address the selection criteria will receive detailed feedback.

Applications should be emailed to circlepaintsreuse@gmail.com.

Questions? Call Jocelyn on 0429 405 884