Senior Gardener

Lewisham Youth Service; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 27,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Local Government Pension scheme

Flexible working and family friendly

Season ticket and bicycle loans

Staff discounts

Supportive staff networks

Job summary

Lewisham Council is seeking a Senior Gardener to lead and supervise a team responsible for maintaining council housing land and green spaces across the borough. The role combines hands-on gardening with people leadership, planning daily tasks, and ensuring high standards and safety.

You will work in Wearside and across the borough, with a hybrid model requiring regular office and home-based work. The post offers development opportunities and benefits including the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Qualifications

• Strong practical gardening and grounds maintenance skills – confident with seasonal tasks, planting, and maintaining high-quality green spaces.
• Experience supervising or mentoring others – able to guide gardeners and apprentices, support learning, and lead by example.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills – able to plan work, coordinate with teams, and liaise professionally with residents and stakeholders.
• A commitment to safety, quality, and customer service – ensuring safe working practices, consistent standards, and a positive experience for residents.

Responsibilities

• Lead and supervise a team in the maintenance of gardens and green spaces.
• Plan and allocate daily tasks, ensuring work is completed to a high standard.
• Provide guidance, and support to team members.
• Ensure health and safety procedures are followed at all times.

Skills

Gardening and grounds maintenance

Team supervision

Communication

Health and safety

Customer service

Job description

• Locations Wearside Road, London, SE13 7EZ, GB
• Job Schedule Full time

Job Description

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!

We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

Introduction

Do you take pride in maintaining clean, green and welcoming public spaces? We are seeking a committed and reliable gardener to support the upkeep of council-managed Housing land and open areas. This role offers the opportunity to make a visible difference in the community, ensuring outdoor spaces are safe, well-presented and enjoyable for all.

What’s the role?

Lead and supervise a team in the maintenance of gardens and green spaces.

• Plan and allocate daily tasks, ensuring work is completed to a high standard.
• Provide guidance, and support to team members.
• Ensure health and safety procedures are followed at all times.

What’s in it for you?

Excellent training and development opportunities, plus a range of benefits including:

• Local Government Pension scheme
• Flexible working and family friendly policies
• Season ticket and bicycle loans
• A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
• Supportive staff networks

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for a confident and skilled Senior Gardener who can bring both expertise and leadership to the team. You’ll need:

• Strong practical gardening and grounds maintenance skills – confident with seasonal tasks, planting, and maintaining high‑quality green spaces.
• Experience supervising or mentoring others – able to guide gardeners and apprentices, support learning, and lead by example.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills – able to plan work, coordinate with teams, and liaise professionally with residents and stakeholders.
• A commitment to safety, quality, and customer service – ensuring safe working practices, consistent standards, and a positive experience for residents.

Location

The job is primarily based in Wearside and operate across the borough , but we operate a hybrid approach where you will be required to work both in the office and from home on a regular basis.

Special conditions

• Weekend working is required for this job
• The job is subject to an Basic DBS check

N.B: All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role. The only exception to this will be when matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale), which is subject to evidential proof.

Diversity

Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

The Council has a dedicated employment support service, Lewisham Works , which offers Lewisham residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you want to join Lewisham Works, please email [e-mail] and an advisor will be in touch with you.

The Council reserves the right to close adverts early if there is a large response.