CAREERS AT CHESTER ZOO

Assistant Team Manager - Nursery

Job reference:001610

Salary:£30,000

Closing date:22/03/2026

Department:Plants

Location:Chester

Employment type:Permanent

Hours Per Week:40

Town Name:Not specified

Job Description

Assistant Team Manager – Nursery

The Role:

This is a key role working as part of our professional team, assisting the Team Manager to ensure the highest standards of horticulture, as part of a great team responsible for managing one of Europe’s largest and most diverse zoological gardens.

As Assistant Team Manager you will:

• To assist the Team Manager (TM) in the daily operation of the Nursery team, ensuring high standards of horticulture and visitor experience, directing, and organising activities as agreed with TM.

• To assist the TM in the management of the nursery operation, including 5 National Plant Collections, Native species programmes, plant propagation, and management of the planting in various tropical houses and feature gardens

• Responsible for the work programming and daily operations of Horticulturists, Lead Horticulturists, and voluntary work placements (VWPs), as delegated and required by TM.

• Responsible for routine one-to-one meetings/ PDR of Horticulturists and Lead Horticulturists, managing and supporting their training and professional development.

• Have good knowledge of the relevant taxa, and current best practise horticultural management, to include related conservation initiatives.

• As Chester Zoo has recently been accredited as a ‘Botanic Garden – Conservation Practitioner’ to have current best horticultural practices related to conservation initiatives.

• To deputise for the Team Manager as directed. 

• Represent and promote Chester Zoo, ensuring an excellent external reputation.

Our Requirements:

• A NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent) qualification in Horticulture.

• Proven professional experience in a horticultural position with a wide range of horticultural skills and have a good plant knowledge.

• Experience of using horticultural machinery and monitoring Health and Safety compliance.

• Experience supervising a team and managing horticultural work programmes.

• PA1 & PA6 spraying certificates.

• Good communication skills to engage with other staff and deal with visitors, public talks, and requests for information from outside sources.

• An ability to motivate and encourage horticultural staff and VWPs.

• A positive, collaborative, and cooperative working style, with the ability to work with colleagues internally and externally across various disciplines.

• Computer literate in Microsoft packages (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)

• A full driving licence valid in the UK

• Although not essential, the following would be desirable:

• Experience with plant record databases.

• Have experience working with a specialist plant collection including cacti.
The Package:

• You’ll be working mainly fixed hours, typically 7:30am to 4:20pm. You will work 40 hours per week, 10 days out of 14 on a rota basis including weekends and bank holidays as rostered.

• Permanent Contract – starting salary of £30,000 per annum

• 33 days annual leave per year (increasing with service)

• Staff pass so you can visit the zoo during your time off plus multiple complimentary tickets for your friends and family

• Access to healthcare plan

• Employer contributory pension scheme

Our working environment could not be more different from a typical office – where else can you see critically endangered orangutans from your office window, or stroll among rare giraffes and tigers on your lunch break?