Arborist | Climber

BLUE RIBBON TREE & LANDSCAPE, INC.; Renton (WA); On-site; USD 41,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Referral bonus

Promotion from within

Job summary

BLUE RIBBON TREE & LANDSCAPE, INC. in Renton, WA is hiring a production climber for year-round work across Greater Seattle. You’ll climb, rig, prune, and lead ground crew while keeping safety and quality at the forefront.

No certification required to apply, we pay for training; two years or more climbing production preferred; strong judgment and clean work habits are valued; expected to work Monday–Friday with occasional overtime.

Qualifications

• At least 2 years of production climbing experience.
• Valid Washington driver's license; CDL not required.
• Strong safety habits and good judgment on rigging and removals.
• Able to work on ground crew tasks when needed.

Responsibilities

• Climb for pruning, removals, sectional dismantling, and rigging.
• Make and explain rigging/removal sequence decisions.
• Operate the bucket when appropriate; aerial lift work included.
• Perform cabling and bracing; assess when to remove vs. retain.
• Prune like an arborist with proper cuts and customer rationale.
• Direct and support ground crew; inspect gear daily.
• Maintain professional conduct in customers’ yards.

Skills

Climbing production

Reliable

Driver's license

Safety mindset

Decision-making

Tools

SRT

DdRT

Aerial lift knowledge

Job description

$30–$40/hr DOE · Renton, WA · Full-time, year-round, W-2

Climbing production work across Greater Seattle. No certification required — we pay for it.

We’ve got the reputation and the repeat business. What we need is another great climber — someone who works clean, works safe, knows trees, and makes good calls up there without anybody standing underneath telling them how.

That’s the real difference between us and a big shop. Your judgment counts here. You’re not calling a regional office for permission to change a rigging plan, and you’re not being second‑guessed by someone who hasn’t been in a tree in fifteen years. If you’re good, you’ll have room to be good.

We’re hiring this seat now and expect to add another climber after it. If you’re good and you’re reading this later, it’s still worth talking.

How this crew works

You know what this job is, so we’ll skip the part where we tell you it’s hard. Here’s what’s actually different from shop to shop.

Our climbers work the ground too — brush, chipper, cleanup. Nobody here is above it, and that’s one of the reasons this crew is good. Same at the yard: when the truck comes back, the whole crew cleans the saws, coils the ropes, and sweeps out the truck. No shop guy does it after you leave.

If you’ve come from a place where climbers don’t touch that, this will be a change. If it sounds like the kind of crew you’d want to be on, keep going.

What you’ll actually do

• Climb production — pruning, removals, sectional dismantling, and rigging
• Make the call on rigging and removal sequence, and explain your reasoning
• Run the bucket when the bucket is the right tool. Aerial lift work is part of the job here, and we’re not precious about who’s in it
• Cabling and bracing. Not every tree is a removal, and knowing the difference is part of the job
• Prune like an arborist, not a landscaper. Proper cuts, and the ability to tell a customer why we’re not topping their tree
• Work the ground alongside everybody else
• Direct your ground crew clearly and respectfully. A good climber makes their groundsperson better
• Inspect your climbing gear, saws, and rigging daily. No exceptions
• Direct your ground crew clearly and respectfully. A good climber makes their groundsperson better
• Be a professional in front of customers. You’re in their yard, near their house

Who we’re looking for

• Reliable. On time, ready, every day, doing what you said you’d do. This is the one we won’t bend on
• Character. How you treat your crew, your customers, and the work matters to us
• A genuinely good climber. At least 2 years actually climbing production. Two years or ten, we’re open — what matters is you’re past new and you work clean. SRT and DdRT, throwline, confident rigging. Aerial lift experience is a plus, and we’ll get you comfortable in the bucket if it’s new to you
• A tree person. You know species, you know how they fail, and you can tell a customer why we’re not topping their maple
• Genuinely safe. Not slow — safe. You know the difference, and you know when to stop and get another set of eyes on it
• Year‑round, all weather. This is the PNW. The work doesn’t stop for rain, and neither do we
• No prima donnas. Our climbers do ground work right alongside everybody else
• Valid Washington driver’s license. Everybody drives our vehicles, so we run a driving record check before hiring. No CDL needed

Certifications

No certification required to apply. We’re looking for great climbers and real tree people first — that’s what matters in the tree.

ISA Certified Tree Climber or Certified Arborist is a strong plus and factors into where you land in the range. Don’t have them? We’ll help you decide which to go after first, and we’ll pay for you to get there.

Pay and benefits

$30–$40/hr DOE. We tell you how we got to your number, and we revisit it as your skills grow. Good work gets rewarded whether you’ve been here twelve years or six weeks.

$1,000 referral bonus once your referral hits six months, no cap. Promotion from the inside before we hire outside.

Straight talk: no traditional health plan or 401(k) today. We’re working to bring health coverage in early next year.

Schedule and location

Monday through Friday, out of our Renton shop, working across Greater Seattle and the Eastside. Occasional storm work and overtime — paid, and never a surprise if we can help it.

A couple of practical things

Driving record. Our crew drives our vehicles, so we run a driving record check before hiring.

Drug and alcohol policy. This is a safety‑sensitive position, and we’re identifying it as one: impairment on this job presents a substantial risk of injury, to you and to everyone around you. We don’t drug test to get hired. We do test after any incident, and any time there’s reason to think someone is impaired on the job. On the job it’s zero tolerance — no alcohol, no cannabis, no impairment of any kind. What you do on your own time is your business, right up until it shows up at work.