Horticultural Services Manager
From Cultivate London
Working For: Cultivate London
Horticultural Services Manager – Vacancy
Established in 2010, Cultivate London is an innovative West London-based social enterprise and environmental charity that uses horticulture to improve community wellbeing, support local people into sustainable employment and education, and enhance local green spaces and the physical environment. By delivering a wide range of horticultural education and engagement programmes, we empower individuals, particularly young people, to gain new skills, improve their health and wellbeing, and strengthen their connection to the natural environment.
Cultivate London is looking for a horticultural manager who values planting work and the creation of garden spaces as a powerful tool for building a positive future for people and wildlife. The horticultural services department operates as a social enterprise sitting within the charity and its focus is delivering high quality gardening and landscaping to a wide range of commercial projects within public spaces and domestic clients and offering vocational experience to volunteers and young people. Day to day working will be undertaken at sites across West London, or as business requires.
These sites may include but are not limited to private or public spaces.
As part of the management team you will oversee efficient operation of CL’s garden maintenance as well as expand the service by seeking out new business and opportunities. This role is for a motivated, energetic person focused on achieving set targets with the ability to think creatively and inspire others – professionals, apprentices and community members. Cultivate London has a commitment to sustainability and prides itself on creating and nurturing vibrant green spaces. We seek a person who can help elevate urban spaces for people and wildlife through careful plant selection and sympathetic maintenance.
WHAT WE DO
Commercial Gardening Services: Our professional gardening services for corporate clients, property developers, local authorities and private clients generate income that is ploughed back into and directly supports our charitable work. Community and Young People : we have created many community growing spaces in schools, housing estates and in public spaces across West London which we continue to support to flourish. Our two permanent community gardens in Ealing and Hounslow provide opportunities for local people to enjoy being in green spaces, gardening together to create fruitful gardens for the community.
Dean Garden Meadows
Estate
Acton WF Trail
The main roles of the job:
1. Manage and inspire Cultivate London’s horticulture services team. Delivering soft landscaping and garden maintenance across a wide range of green spaces and gardens.
2. Reports to the Commercial Director. Works alongside the director in preparing produce work plans
3. Produce competitive estimates and quotations for landscaping and garden maintenance work, provide planting suggestions, garden improvements and input on design briefs. Contribute to tendering and
project proposals.
4. Monitor staff performance within the horticulture service team and set performance targets. Provide constructive feedback and guidance both formally and informally to achieve these
5. Work alongside the Operations Manager and Cultivate London office in sourcing suppliers, selecting materials. Creating efficient and reliable processes for ordering materials, scheduling work and
distributing resources.
6. Provides horticultural advice and support to the Director of Community and Young People on community projects
7. Use powered, non-powered tools & equipment including the application of fertiliser, pesticides & herbicides in line with good operational practice, health and safety and environmental guidelines
8. Liaise with clients and provide prompt and clear communication regarding agreed works and promoting excellent customer service from the team
9. Coordinating and supervising occasional staff, volunteers, work experience and sub-contractors as required
10. Deliver on-the-job training for apprentice gardeners, work experience trainees to develop horticultural and vocational skills and knowledge.
11. Review performance and provide constructive feedback for staff and work experience trainees
12. Ensure that all relevant vehicles, machinery, tools and gardening equipment are kept clean, safe, secure and in a serviceable condition at all times
13. Organise regular tool box talks and plant idents to refresh knowledge and maintain standards within the commercial team
14. Be responsible for the maintenance of personal health and safety and actively participate in development of best practice within the organisation
15. Maintain accurate records and submit reports
16. Work as part of the CL team and carry out cover for other staff as and when required
17. Undertake any other duties and training that may reasonably be required by Cultivate London
As this post involves working with children, young people and vulnerable adults, appointments will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosures and Barring Service check.
Essential:
1. A passion for horticulture, strong knowledge of plants and horticultural practice.
2. A horticultural qualification at Level 3 or above and or 5 + years equivalent industry experience.
3. Confident in supervising a team directly and coordinating remotely
4. Experience of managing and portfolio of clients, comfortable dealing with project schedules and maintenance rotas
5. Project and job monitoring reporting to clients and contributing to internal tracking within the horticultural services team.
6. Confident in carrying out a full range of horticultural operations to a high standard across domestic and commercial sites
7. Ensure compliance with Health & Safety and contractual processes and requirements
8. Trustworthy, dependable, motivated, a good time keeper and respect company standards of appearance
9. Ensure excellent customer service standards are maintained along with courteous and proactive communication with clients and stakeholders to identify contract needs and ensure the values of the
company are reflected in all interactions.
10. Able to read planting plans and interpret design instructions
11. Full clean UK driving licence and experience of driving professional vehicles within London or equivalent location.
12. Work effectively as part of the CL team and on your own
13. Willingness to work flexibly hrs outside of core work hours as required to achieve relevant targets
14. Produce and maintain accurate & legible records in accordance with company requirements
15. Competent in operational IT and admin systems or a willingness to learn
Desirable:
1. Experience of growing food crops and nursery production ornamental plants
2. Experience in completing hard landscaping and garden construction
3. Experience of ecology projects, habitat management or restoration
4. CSCS (supervisor level) & SSSTs qualified
5. Vocational teaching and assessing qualification/ experience
6. PA1 & PA6 qualification
7. CS30/31 chainsaw qualifications
8. Experience of working with community projects, volunteer groups or vulnerable people
Private Garden
BLW Podium
Benefits:
● Opportunity to make a real positive difference to London’s green spaces through sustainable planting and creating valuable urban habitat for wildlife, whilst engaging with and inspiring local people
● Opportunity to influence the direction of a wide variety of projects with creative input and project design
● Support for training to cover skills gaps and aid development provided via covering course fees and or allocating time within working hours for this to be undertaken.
● 20 days holiday plus UK Bank Holidays rising with each year of service
● Uniform, phone, laptop and personal protective equipment (PPE) is supplied
Working Hours: 5 days per week Monday to Friday 8:00am -4:45pm, with occasional weekend work as business requires, 20 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
Salary: up to £37,000 DOE
Closing Date for applications: 28th February 2026
Safer Recruitment
Cultivate London is committed to providing a safe environment for all those who work at Cultivate London and all those who come into contact with Cultivate London as visitors to the Gardens, and as participants in Cultivate London activities. The safe recruitment of all those who undertake work on behalf of Cultivate London is the first step to ensuring that we are fulfilling this commitment. All positions are offered subject to the following conditions:
● Receipt of satisfactory references covering the last 3 years of your employment or education.
● Health clearance
● A satisfactory Disclosure Check.
● Proof that you are legally entitled to work in the UK
Cultivate London is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of the community.
This position is subject to a 3-month probation period.
OUR OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT
We strive to:
● Promote Public Education in Sustainability: Inspire and educate communities to embrace nature and horticulture, local food production, and sustainable living practices.
● Promote Horticulture and Green Spaces: Create training, learning, and employment opportunities for disadvantaged individuals, community groups and schools to better connect with nature, through horticulture and the creation of green spaces.
● Promote Employment: Equip individuals with practical horticulture skills, build confidence and a sense of connection, and create pathways into long-term employment in areas of horticulture and the environment.
● Advance Community and Social Cohesion: Foster inclusive, flourishing neighbourhood communities through shared appreciation of nature, green spaces and the transformative power of horticultural education.
● Protect and Enhance the Natural Environment: Increase biodiversity in public and commercial spaces, to mitigate the impacts of climate change, through creation of community-led gardening initiatives and environmental stewardship of green spaces in West London.
APPLY NOW
Send us your application (CV and cover letter) by uploading at https://form.jotform.com/253463678239368
For further information or to discuss this role please contact Auberon at auberon@cultivatelondon.org or by phone: 07495 183669
This private advert is being managed directly by the employer. Horticruitment are not involved in the hiring process and are therefore unable to share any additional information on this role. If you have any questions regarding this position, the best course of action is to apply for the job which will open a line of communication with the employer.
If you would like to view more information on the Professional Gardeners Guild, please click here and the Royal Horticultural Society, please click here
For more gardener roles please click here