Cemetery Caretaker

National Cemetery Administration; Dayton (OH); On-site; USD 37,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

This position is located at the Dayton National Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio, and is with the National Cemetery Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs. The Cemetery Caretaker performs manual tasks and operates equipment to maintain grounds and burial areas.

Typical duties include operating tractors and mowers, digging graves, leveling dirt, cleaning headstones, and assisting with casket placement. Working hours may include overtime, weekends, and federal holidays as required.

Qualifications

• The role requires manual labor and physical strength.
• Experience in grounds care and grave-digging tasks is a plus.
• Ability to operate basic landscaping equipment and tools.

Responsibilities

• Operate small tractors and riding lawn mowers.
• Dig graves to the proper level and lay/level dirt.
• Assist in lifting and placing caskets and cleaning cemetery grounds.

Skills

Manual labor

Grounds maintenance

Grave digging

Job description

• Hiring Agency: National Cemetery Administration
• Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

This position is located at the Dayton National Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.

Key Responsibilities

The Cemetery Caretaker performs jobs requiring mainly manual skills and physical strength.

Performs a variety of tasks, such as operating small tractors and riding lawn mowers; transplanting shrubs; digging graves to the proper level; cutting and removing sod, tamping and leveling dirt using hand and power tools; digging and squaring graves using pneumatic equipment, picks and shovels; assisting in lifting and placing caskets on lowering devices; loading and unloading materials; aligning headstones; cleaning and clearing cemetery grounds of debris using power trimmers, chainsaws, axes, shovels, rakes, blowers, vacuums etc.; weeding, mulching, and applying fertilizer; pruning shrubs and low level dead branches; removing snow and ice; cleaning headstones using sprayer and hand brush; and cleaning service and administrative areas.

Work schedule: May be required to work Monday through Friday to include occasional weekends. Due to the mission of the National Cemetery, the cemetery cannot be closed for more than 2 consecutive days at any given time. Additionally, when a Federal holiday falls on a Monday or Friday, staff may be required to work on that holiday or a Saturday. All staff is required to work Memorial Day each year.

Staff will be required to work overtime, weekends and holidays when necessary to meet the needs of the cemetery. Occasionally staff may be called back to the facility to perform emergency overtime work. Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Not Available Position Description Title/PD#: Cemetery Caretaker/ PD136120 The full performance level of this position is WG - 06.

Relocation Expenses: Not Authorized Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Which agency is hiring for this position?

This position is with National Cemetery Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.

What is the salary for this position?

The posted pay range is $27.13 – $31.61/hr.

What is the application deadline?

Applications close on 2026-11-10.

Who is eligible to apply?

This position is open under the 'Fed Transition' hiring path.