Plant Centre Manager
Contract: Fixed-Term, 12 months (with a potential for a permanent contract)
Hours: Part-time 28 hours per week (some weekends, early mornings, and evenings)
Salary: £25,000 - £27,000 pro rata dependent on experience
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
We’re seeking a truly passionate plant enthusiast who can combine IT and business skills, with a personable approach and a hands-on attitude, to keep our Plant Centre and its sales thriving.
Overseeing the management of propagation and other gardening work, as well as procuring other stock, you will be a confident self-starter comfortable supporting supervisors and volunteers. The success of our Plant Centre supports our charitable work for the community, so the successful candidate will uphold our charitable aims and remain flexibly innovative in pushing them forward.
Walworth Garden is a small, diverse and inclusive organisation of 25 employees, where we cook and share daily lunches, and value community. We are committed to anti-racist work and seek colleagues actively sharing the same values. We particularly welcome applications from those identifying with groups historically excluded from horticulture.
About us:
Walworth Garden is a charity dedicated to knowledge and nurture. Our mission is to improve lives by providing excellent learning and horticultural therapy through a garden that is open to all.
Walworth Garden is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. The Charity is governed by a voluntary Board of Trustees. Our main charitable work includes horticultural training and horticultural therapy for those in need.
We also provide services that individuals or other organisations pay for in order to generate surplus income to support our charitable work.
Purpose of the Role
To be responsible for all elements of Walworth Garden’s Plant Centre (open seven days a week). To liaise with the CEO and lead on initiatives that maximise revenue generation whilst adhering to the Garden’s ethos. To manage a team of Garden Supervisors and volunteers so that the centre functions at its best in all seasons. To move the centre towards an increasingly sustainable system of operation.
The Garden is a small organisation and employees are expected to be reasonably flexible so that the evolving needs of all stakeholders are met.
You’ll be joining a growing, passionate team, and enjoy a range of perks including:
28 days of annual leave per year, exclusive of bank holidays
An active employee support programme
Employee discounts and access to our short courses
Daily plant-based lunches made for and by staff and volunteers
Bike 2 Work scheme
The most beautiful ‘office’ in South London, with the company of an array of wildlife, including an office cat.
Individual responsibilities
Lead on propagation - focussing on specimens that will further and promote WG’s ethos of plants for the discerning gardener
Lead on sales, ensuring figures are collated and continue an upward trajectory
Lead on online sales, ensuring a symbiotic relationship with the Plant Centre and a sustainable system of operation
Lead on stock control, ordering, innovation, and waste reduction
Lead on disease and pest control, adhering to and innovating organic principles in the process
Lead on the use and maintenance of propagation facilities, setting standards of operation that can be replicated and delegated easily
To ensure the Garden is appropriately staffed and is open seven days a week
To liaise with the Head Gardener so that the Plant Centre is maintained in accordance with a pre-arranged set of values
Give knowledgeable advice to visitors about plants in the garden and for sale
Competently represent Walworth Garden and promote the work of the Charity and the Company
Be our friendly, recognisable and helpful face at our busiest times of the week
Oversee the administration of various workshops run at the Garden, ensuring attendees are welcomed, signed-in and catered for
To work with the Head Gardener so that Plant Centre staff and volunteers contribute effectively to the maintenance of the Garden and grounds.
Liaise with the Education Manager to instruct, empower and monitor the work of volunteers to ensure they are contributing positively
Ensure the safety and security of our property, volunteers and visitors
Maintain, with guidance, our community garden, building and plant centre
Lead on stock orders (plants, pots, compost etc) and organise the delivery, unpacking, naming, logging and pricing accordingly
Ensure the facility is left in an acceptable state at the end of each day
To work with work experience placements and give them, and the Garden, the best possible outcomes
To Apply
Please see the Job Description for further details about the role as well as the person specification. If you think this is the job for you, please email a cover letter and your CV to oli@walworthgarden.org.uk by midnight on Sunday 12 December. Interviews will be held on Wednesday 15 December.
Please note that due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are only able to respond to candidates who are successfully shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you were unsuccessful on this occasion.