Head Gardener (Home Park Private)

Job description

Advert closing date: 18th September 2026 Head Gardener Opportunity – Windsor Estate Competitive salary + discretionary bonus | Excellent benefits including 28 days holiday + bank holidays | Private medical | Choice of pension schemes Join our team We are looking for an experienced, practical and inspiring Head Gardener to lead the care, presentation and development of gardens and landscaped areas across Home Park. This is a significant leadership role for someone who combines strong horticultural expertise with excellent people management, operational planning and a genuine passion for caring for outstanding landscapes. You will play a key role in maintaining high horticultural standards, enhancing biodiversity, supporting seasonal impact and ensuring an exceptional experience for visitors, residents and stakeholders. About The Crown Estate At The Crown Estate, we actively manage a diverse portfolio across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to create lasting and shared prosperity for the nation. Our work is guided by long-term stewardship, responsible investment and a commitment to creating environmental, social and financial value. About Windsor Estate and Home Park Windsor Estate is one of the country’s most unique and important environmental and ecological sites. It includes parkland, forests, farms, lakes and gardens, with a rich history, rare wildlife and nationally significant landscapes. As an operational estate, it brings together heritage, conservation, commercial activity, public access, events and day-to-day estate management. Home Park is 728 acres of park, gardens and farmland surrounding Windsor Castle. Our purpose is to ensure the health, beauty and longevity of this historically important landscape through the management, development, cultivation and maintenance of various plant species, trees and landscapes. The area includes Frogmore Gardens, a formal garden area in the grounds of Frogmore House, as well as other gardens including the South Front borders, the Rose Walk, the Nuttery and the Walled Garden. It also includes orchards, sports grounds, wildflower meadows, tree avenues, ponds, lakes, river frontage and parkland areas surrounding the walls of Windsor Castle. What you’ll be doing As Head Gardener, you will lead the planning, maintenance and development of gardens, lawns, borders, hedges, glasshouses, woodland, orchards and landscaped areas. You will ensure high standards of horticulture throughout the year, with strong seasonal interest, excellent presentation and a focus on sustainable practice. You will lead, motivate and develop the team, setting clear expectations, planning work programmes and supporting a positive, inclusive and high-performing team culture. You will also manage machinery, equipment and horticultural assets, ensuring they are available, safe, compliant and well maintained. The role will involve planning and delivering annual and long-term work programmes, overseeing planting schemes and improvement projects, managing contractors and suppliers, and working collaboratively with colleagues across the Estate. You will ensure health and safety compliance, contribute to budget and resource planning, biodiversity initiatives, events and stakeholder engagement. About you You will bring strong horticultural knowledge and proven experience managing gardens, estates, parks or historic landscapes. You will be confident leading teams, planning operational work programmes and maintaining high standards across complex or high-profile outdoor environments. You will have a practical, hands-on approach and be comfortable balancing day-to-day delivery with longer-term landscape development. You will understand plant health, soil management, pest and disease control, irrigation, sustainability and biodiversity, and you will be committed to safe working practices. We are looking for someone who is organised, calm under pressure and able to prioritise effectively. You will be a confident communicator who can build strong working relationships with colleagues, contractors, visitors and stakeholders. A supportive, solution-focused leadership style and a genuine commitment to developing others will be important. What we’re looking for You will need: · A relevant horticultural qualification, such as HND, ND/NVQ Level 3 or RHS Level 3, with proven experience or equivalent practical expertise. · Proven experience managing gardens, estates, parks or historic landscapes. · Strong horticultural knowledge, including plant science, garden design principles and grounds maintenance. · Experience planning and delivering operational work programmes. · Proven people management capability, including performance management and team development. · Experience managing contractors and monitoring delivery against safety, quality and performance standards. · Strong understanding of land-based health and safety practices, including risk assessments and safe systems of work. · A full manual driving licence. · Emergency First Aid at Work certification. Experience of heritage, visitor-focused or high-profile landscapes, project management, landscape design, public engagement, machinery certificates or a recognised health and safety qualification would be helpful but is not essential. Working with us This is a practical outdoor leadership role where high standards, safety and teamwork matter. You will need to be able to carry out outdoor duties in all weather conditions and work flexibly when needed to support seasonal demands, incidents, events and wider Estate priorities. The role includes accommodation to support the requirements of the job, including the ability to respond quickly to incidents outside normal working hours. You will also need to maintain the level of security clearance required for the role, in addition to standard BPSS checks. Our recruitment process Our goal is to build a truly diverse team and incorporate inclusion into everything we do, enabling our people to thrive in a collaborative and supportive culture. We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. If you have a disability or long-term condition and need us to make any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. Our Offering / benefits: As well as a competitive salary, pension and performance related bonus offering, we have a wealth of benefits available ranging from flexible working; market leading family policies and shopping discounts in the West End, to private healthcare; life and critical illness cover and 28 days holiday with the option to buy more. We value work life balance and your wellbeing highly, enabling you to be your best self to work. Disability Disclaimer: We are a proud disability confident employer and operate the offer of interview scheme Disability Confident employer scheme - () . We are happy to offer alternative application methods or formats and can be flexible on our process to enable you to have the best opportunity. If you have any questions about our recruitment process or would like to talk about adjustments, please contact us directly. Please note that if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close this advert early. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.