Do you share our aim to make our gardens and parklands accessible, truly inclusive and relevant for everyone? Can you provide specialist support, advice and inspiration to our property teams to make our places and plant collections the best they can be? Are you eager to respond to the climate and biodiversity crisis by supporting some of the UKs most special places? If so, we'd love to hear from you.
We're looking for an experienced horticulture professional to join our consultancy team and help us maximise the potential of our gardens and parklands.
Starting salary of £26,699 is for a part-time 22.5 hr/wk position.
Interviews will be in York on Friday 20th September 2024.
What it's like to work here
You'll be a member of the Trust's national consultancy, joining a network of Gardens & Parklands Consultants and specialists from every field of our work. You'll share skills and experience across departments and boundaries, offering our properties outstanding advice and support. You'll deliver alongside two other colleagues in the North.
Covering mainly the North West, you'll be based at either our Manchester or Altrincham hub, with the opportunity to work from properties and home some of the time. You'll have regular travel to gardens throughout the region and sometimes attend meetings and training elsewhere in the UK. Our hybrid working policy means you can balance office and home working with site visits and meetings at other National Trust places. We'll talk about this in more detail at interview, but you should expect to be at a National Trust site for 40–60% of your working week.
What you'll be doing
You'll provide guidance for our gardens, property, and consultancy teams across a portfolio of properties. Your practical horticultural skills will ensure our gardens have high standards of presentation and reflect their own spirit of place. Mentoring and training our garden teams, you'll share knowledge and expertise, providing support on all aspects of horticulture and garden management. You'll work closely with curators, visitor experience and outdoor teams to ensure great access, visitor enjoyment and conservation.
You'll support project teams in design and planning phases of garden projects, including procurement, contractor liaison and maintenance planning. You may be working in a multi-disciplinary team providing advice on landscape features and significant changes or directly with a garden team on designs for a border.
You'll champion the work of the Trust externally, building partnerships, identifying funding opportunities and inspiring people. No two days will be alike. This is your opportunity to really make a difference, working with a national team of specialists to preserve these beautiful and significant gardens for everyone, for ever.
Who we're looking for:
- An established broad and deep knowledge of horticulture, gardens, garden history and plants, with a recognised higher-level horticultural qualification or equivalent experience.
- Extensive experience as a Head Gardener, Garden Manager or Horticultural specialist with an up-to-date approach, with the latest trends and developments in horticulture.
- Real passion for horticulture, a can-do attitude and enthusing all you meet to create great visitor experiences.
- A skilled communicator, who can build strong relationships within diverse teams, both internally and externally.
- Knowledge of Conservation Management Plans and/or Site Masterplans and their implementation, with experience of writing reports and preparing findings for different audiences.
- A flexible thinker and problem-solver, skilled at negotiating and building productive networks, and confident in using your expertise to influence decisions
- Proactive and organised, with experience of managing projects and a talent for multi-tasking and getting things done, strongly focused on detail, quality, cost and time.
- A leader for inclusion and always thinking everyone welcome
The package
The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever' at its heart. We're working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It's important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we're for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.
- Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary
- Free entry to National Trust places for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
- Rental deposit loan scheme
- Season ticket loan
- EV car lease scheme
- Perks at work discounts such as gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts
- Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.
- Flexible working whenever possible
- Employee assistance programme
- Free parking at most Trust places.