Lead Gardener

About the role

As a Lead Gardener at Southern Hospice Group, you will play a vital role in shaping and maintaining welcoming, peaceful outdoor environments that offer comfort, reflection, and calm for patients, families, and staff. Our hospice grounds provide a highly varied and rewarding setting, from propagation in the polytunnel to kitchen gardens, wildflower meadows, woodland walks, wildlife ponds, private contemporary patient gardens, and expansive green spaces.

In this role, you will take both a hands-on and supervisory position, leading garden staff and volunteers while maintaining the highest horticultural standards across all areas. Your work will directly contribute to wellbeing, offering a strong sense of purpose, pride, and job satisfaction.

You will be responsible for planning and coordinating workloads, ensuring compliance with health, safety, and environmental standards, and working collaboratively with the Grounds Manager to deliver high-quality outcomes. Alongside practical gardening duties, you will guide and support volunteers and corporate groups, creating a positive and well-organised experience for everyone involved.

If you are an experienced gardener with strong leadership skills, a passion for horticulture, and a desire to make a meaningful difference, this is a rewarding opportunity to combine responsibility, creativity, and purpose.

You'll be

• Supervising garden staff and volunteers, providing clear directions, guidance, and support to maintain high standards across all sites

• Able to carry out a full range of horticultural and grounds maintenance tasks independently, without the need for supervision or ongoing guidance

• Ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations

• Carrying out maintenance of lawns, flower and vegetable gardens, including watering, fertilizing, and caring for trees, shrubs, turf, and associated hard landscaping features such as irrigation systems and water features

• Managing teams of volunteers and corporate groups on a weekly basis, ensuring guidance and support are effectively provided, while also supporting gardening staff to deliver the same high standards of supervision and assistance

• Working with external suppliers

• Taking responsibility for the upkeep of garden sheds, workshops, tools, and machinery, overseeing garden staff to ensure high standards of cleanliness, organisation, and safety are consistently maintained

• Leading on grounds compliance checks, including daily and monthly playground inspections and routine water feature treatments, ensuring accurate documentation while overseeing and supporting garden staff to carry out these responsibilities effectively

• Identifying and treating pests, diseases, and plant health issues

• Reporting and updating the Grounds Manager with any progression or issues

• Responsible for seasonal growing, vegetables and plants

• Developing and coordinating work schedules for the gardening team, working closely with the Grounds Manager to incorporate wider operational input, set priorities, and ensuring tasks are allocated efficiently and effectively

About us

Southern Hospice Group is the largest group of hospices in Sussex and one of the largest in the UK. We are committed to providing exceptional and compassionate care to adults, children and their families across Sussex. Bringing our teams and resources together as one organisation means we can focus on new and exciting visions and plans for our people and patients and provide even greater opportunities for our workforce.

St Barnabas House provides specialist palliative care to adults in the Worthing, Adur, Arun and Henfield areas through a range of services, including in-patient care and community living well services.

Chestnut Tree House is the children’s hospice for East and West Sussex and South East Hampshire, providing specialist palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions.

Martlets provides essential care to people affected by terminal illness in Brighton and Hove and surrounding areas. Our expert teams provide the very best care and support, helping patients and their loved ones to live life to the full during the precious time they have together.

Benefits

• Company pension scheme or NHS pension scheme for eligible employees
• Up to 35 days’ annual leave inclusive of bank holidays
• On-site education support and study leave opportunities
• Option to access Bupa and cover your everyday cost of healthcare for less
• Free parking, subsidised meals and various social activities
• Corporate rate gym membership, discounts with local complementary therapies and Blue Light Card
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Death in Service

We warmly welcome applications from all sections of our community. We also invite applications from suitably experienced people for all industry sectors who can demonstrate the skills, ability and enthusiasm to work with a people-centric organisation like ours.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Your application and interview should give us an accurate and authentic picture of your skills and experiences. Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Before you submit an application, we will ask you to confirm the information you provide is true and accurate. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Please note that we reserve the right to close this vacancy before the published closing date where applicant volume is high.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for an Enhanced submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.