Lead Gardener

A great opening has arisen at the University of Bristol for a full-time Lead Gardener based in the beautiful and historic Goldney Gardens, situated at the heart of the university's Clifton campus, overlooking Bristol's floating harbour.

The role is to head a small team of gardeners carrying out the day-to-day maintenance, enhancement, and development of the formal and informal gardens, surrounding landscapes, orchards and woodland of the three Clifton Halls of residences- Goldney Hall, Clifton Hill House & Manor Hall. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/gardens/visit-our-gardens/goldney-garden/

What will you be doing?

You will be leading a small team of two dedicated Horticulturists delivering high-quality amenity horticultural in a well-planned, safe, and prioritised way to ensure the university green spaces and grounds are maintained as welcoming, attractive, and safe environment for students, staff & visitors.

In addition, you will contribute to the development of the gardens through new landscapes, planting projects and biodiversity enhancements and occasionally assist with volunteer groups undertaking horticultural & conservational activities. Largely a horticultural role, rather than a grounds role, tasks will range from shrub & tree pruning, herbaceous border, orchard and meadow maintenance, hedge cutting, weed control & pond maintenance, as well as litter picking and seasonally essential task, such as leaf clearance and snow & ice treatments.

We are looking for a passionate, self-driven & motivated gardener, who has previously worked in a similar amenity horticultural environment and has supervisory experience. You should have good attention to detail, strong organisational skills and be a good team player, who can use their initiative and problem-solve when required.

You should have a recognised horticultural qualification, a supervisory qualification or willingness to attain it, good plant knowledge, a good understanding of Health & Safety, a full driving license, and ideally hold certificates of competence such as NPTC, LANTRA, PA.1 & PA.6, although a willingness to attain these would be acceptable as we are keen to develop the skills of our teams and provide you with an environment that you can flourish.

You should also have good communication and interpersonal skills and be happy to assist and work collaboratively with our other horticultural and grounds teams.

In addition, it would be desirable if you held a Health and Asafety certification, such IOSH, some experience working with a large or complex organisation and are familiar with Microsoft applications and smartphone use.