Gardens & Parks Consultant

This is a fantastic opportunity to join our regional consultancy as a Gardens and Parks Consultant. We are looking for a horticulture professional to provide specialist support and advice for our teams on gardens, parklands and their plant collections to help us maximise the potential of our gardens so they continue to be highly cared for and enjoyed into the future.?

You’ll be part of a regional and national team of gardens and parks consultants, working closely with property teams. Reporting to a Consultancy Manager you'll provide advice and guidance to gardens teams at a variety of places mainly across the East Midlands/ Cambridge area of the Midlands and East region of NT (including Clumber, Wimpole, Anglesey Abbey and the Lincolnshire portfolio of properties). ?

You’ll be part of the Trust’s internal consultancy: a flexible resource of specialist skills and expertise. As one of a multidisciplinary team of experts, including curators, fundraisers, building surveyors and project managers, you’ll be working with others to help make things happen.?

Your contractual place of work will be the National Trust office at Hardwick. 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.?

This is a two-year fixed term contract for 22.5 hours a week, and we’ll consider flexible working patterns.

You’ll use your horticultural knowledge and skills to support our gardening teams in conserving our historically important gardens, ensuring our gardens are historically accurate with high standards of presentation.

You’ll work with the teams to manage all aspects of gardening in the modern world including climate change, sustainability, tree management, and maintenance of water features, and hard landscaping aspects of the sites including garden features, new and historic.

Working closely with the curatorial and visitor experience teams you’ll ensure access and conservation are always balanced, and that visitor enjoyment is at the core of everything we do.

Please also read the full role profile and additional information, attached to this advert.

We’d love to hear from you if you’re:

• a skilled communicator, who can build strong relationships within diverse teams, both internally and externally?
• 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, who finds ways to create an inclusive culture
• self-motivated with the ability to work on your own initiative
• proven to have horticultural/ garden management skills and experience
• qualified to a higher-level horticultural standard or has equivalent experience

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)

• Tax-free childcare scheme

• Rental deposit loan scheme

• Season ticket loan

• 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

• Independent financial advice

Click here to find out more about the benefits we offer to support you.