If you are looking for an opportunity to further your career in a beautiful historic garden, Fishbourne Roman Palace is looking for a Senior Gardener!

This is a full time, permanent position, 37 hours per week with an annual salary of £19,625.  The responsibilities of the role are to oversee the day to day management and development of the historically significant gardens, working with the Senior Management Team in its strategic planning and taking delegated responsibility for aspects of the work. Also, to lead a team of staff and volunteers and ensure our high standards of conservation, horticulture and visitor experience are met. 

What you will need:

• Gardening qualification to RHS level 3 (or equivalent level of vocational experience)

• Experience of working in a visitor-focused garden

• Volunteer management experience

• A good working knowledge of Health & Safety and Compliance requirements

• Good knowledge of plant husbandry and horticultural techniques

• Competence with machinery/equipment use, including tractors and pedestrian mowers.

• Enthusiasm for historic gardens and a willingness to share that enthusiasm

• Ability to work alone and as part of a team in all weathers

• Good written and verbal communication skills

About us:

Fishbourne Roman Palace is run by Sussex Archaeological Society and is the site of the earliest formal garden known of in Britain. It is unique, being planted into the Roman bedding trenches discovered during the excavations in the 1960s, making it an accurate reconstruction rather than an imaginative design. The garden and grounds are also part of the scheduled monument listing of the site under Historic England.

The challenge is in keeping up the standard that would have been required in the Formal Garden during the Roman period, together with taking forward the Research Garden and developing ways in which to integrate the use of the gardens and grounds further into the life of the Palace.

We hope to restore other areas of the grounds, such as our Roman pool and use the gardens to add to the visitor experience with talks, tours and engaging with our social media channels. We would like to utilise our nursery space for the husbandry of plants for the shop and for the café and to develop our dedicated garden volunteer team. We hope to create a garden management plan that keep the standards high in our more established garden areas, whilst improving the experience for visitors with the huge potential for restoration and development work that Fishbourne Roman Palace offers.

You will have passion for a unique historic garden with excellent technical expertise in horticulture, good health and safety knowledge and management experience, as well as being able to share our story with our visitors. There will be plenty of opportunity for your own personal development in this fast moving site.