Assistant Manager – Largo, Scotland

Position: Assistant Manager – Horticulture

Hours of Work: We are offering a Full Time position for 39hp/w. Seasonal variation in hours is considered using the Scottish Agricultural Wages board Stable Income Arrangement. Core hours will be Monday – Friday 8.30-5pm. Flexibility is required within this role to account for seasonality, morning harvests, longer Summer shifts, attendance at markets and weekend irrigation duties on a rotational basis.

Term of Contract: Continuous

Holiday: 28 days holiday + 2 (SAWG) Special Days for Christmas and New Year

Start Date: December/January – we would like the candidate to be involved with the planning and development for the 2024 Season.

Criteria: We are looking to recruit someone who has at least three seasons of employed market gardening experience, ideally within both vegetable and flower production or one or the other. The salary offered will be relative to the candidate’s experience.

This is a new role as we enter our next phase of developing the business and as such we expect the role to develop over time. The Assistant Manager will join our full time Horticulture Manager and our part time Horticulture Assistant.

We hope that the Assistant Manager will take on a specific area of responsibility within the garden operation, some examples of these areas include; harvest co-ordination, field crops/ tunnel crops, veg or flower crop management, propagation, marketing, market planning etc.

We welcome applications from candidates who have experience in similar size market gardens or at larger farm scales. We are also keen to find someone who is interested to be involved in the enterprise side of the business as well as production.

Personal Qualities Required:

• A passion for plants and the outdoors
• An enthusiasm for and experience in organic and agro-ecological horticulture
• Happy to be outside in all weathers and comfortable working on repetitive tasks
• Able to work alone and as part of a team
• Confidence to ask questions and take initiative within workflow
• A creative thinker, able to problem solve and contribute to the Horticulture, Manager and the owners vision for the garden
• A can do attitude and team player

Essential Skills Required:

• Intermediate use of Microsoft Office, specifically Excel
• Able to process orders through our email ordering system
• Comfortable with mathematics and the use of numbers within a practical work setting
• Physically fit and able to complete manual tasks
• Experience in a market garden setting growing both vegetables and flowers
• Experience in the use of a range of garden tools, specialist market garden tools and machinery
• Knowledge of relevant pests and diseases
• Able to demonstrate an understanding of efficiency and experience of working in an environment where efficiency is key
• Comfortable with basic hand tools for DIY
• Practically minded and able to problem solve
• Have experience of collaborating within a horticulture setting
• Ability to share horticulture knowledge and skills with others
• Have an aptitude for quality, aesthetics and care
• Able to take on responsibility for an area within the workflow of the market garden
• Friendly and approachable manner and willing to work with the general public

Qualifications Required:

• Horticulture Qualification such as HNC, HND or RHS Level 2
• Full driving license and a willingness to drive for work, including deliveries of orders (Mileage is paid for use of own vehicles)
• Experience, tickets or certificates in the following; Hedge Trimmer, Mower, Ride-on Mower, Strimmer, Compact Tractor, Rotavator, Chain-saw

Application Requirements:

Your experience of market gardening/farming, your interest in the Largo Walled Garden project, and how you meet the skills, qualifications and personal qualities required.

Closing Date: Sunday 22nd October. Interviews w/c 30th October, we will likely run a two stage interview process with Zoom interviews to start and an onsite working interview at stage 2.

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