GROUNDS & LANDSCAPING SPECIALIST

JOB SUMMARY

The Grounds & Landscaping Specialist will oversee the grounds and landscaping team, ensuring high standards of planting, plant health, irrigation, and general grounds upkeep across the site. The role combines hands-on horticultural and equipment expertise with team leadership — scheduling preventive and corrective maintenance, ensuring safety compliance, and liaising with the wider Facilities Management team. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable operating grounds equipment personally and directing a team to a consistent, high standard.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and oversee the grounds and landscaping team (gardeners and equipment operatives), allocating daily tasks and ensuring consistent coverage across all zones.
• Plan and schedule preventive and corrective grounds maintenance: mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilising, and pest/weed control.
• Oversee plant health across lawns, beds, hedges, and ornamental planting; diagnose and address disease, pest, or irrigation issues.
• Operate and provide hands-on guidance on ride-on mowers, push-behind mowers, brush cutters, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, and fertiliser spreaders.
• Ensure correct use, upkeep, and basic maintenance of all grounds equipment and tools; manage equipment logs and report faults promptly.
• Oversee irrigation scheduling and water use efficiency across landscaped areas.
• Ensure safety compliance across the grounds team, including safe operation of powered equipment (mowers, trimmers, chainsaws) and correct use of PPE.
• Maintain accurate maintenance records, task schedules, and defect reports using the facility's CMMS/CAFM platform.
• Liaise with the FM site lead and wider engineering team on scheduling, resourcing, and any cross-functional grounds-related issues.
• Support event-based grounds preparation and turnaround for high-footfall periods.
• Train, mentor, and performance-manage grounds team members, supporting their development in horticultural and equipment skills.

Requirements

REQUIREMENTS & QUALIFICATIONS

• OND/HND or relevant certification in Horticulture, Landscape Management, Agricultural Science, or a related discipline (strong hands-on experience will also be considered).
• Minimum 5 years' experience in grounds/landscaping management, including demonstrable team-lead or supervisory experience.
• Hands-on, practical experience operating grounds equipment — ride-on mowers, brush cutters, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, fertiliser spreaders.
• Sound knowledge of planting, irrigation, plant health, and pest/weed control practices suited to the local climate.
• Comfortable working with a CMMS/CAFM system for logging maintenance activity and scheduling tasks.
• Strong organisational and people-management skills, with the ability to plan work across a team and maintain consistent standards.
• Safety-conscious, with sound knowledge of safe equipment operation and PPE requirements.
• Willingness to work flexible shifts, including weekends, based on operational and event schedules.
• Physically fit and able to work outdoors in all weather conditions.

Benefits

WHAT WE OFFER

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience and leadership responsibility.
• Structured grounds maintenance environment with clear procedures, tools, and CMMS support.
• Opportunity to lead grounds operations on a large-scale, high-profile facility with extensive landscaped areas.
• Career development within a growing Integrated Facilities Management company.