Horticulturist Groundskeeper

**Position Overview**:
The Horticulturist / Groundskeeper supports the health, appearance, and functionality of the university’s outdoor spaces. This role combines horticultural expertise with comprehensive groundskeeping responsibilities, ensuring a safe, clean, and aesthetically pleasing environment for the university community. The position requires adaptability, physical stamina, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

**Key Responsibilities**:
**Horticultural Duties**:

- Perform routine care and maintenance of trees, shrubs, flowers, and lawns, including watering, pruning, mulching, weeding, fertilizing, and pest control.
- Trim and manage vegetation at locations such as Point Trotter, surface lots, and landscaped areas.

**Groundskeeping & Maintenance Tasks**:

- Maintain athletic and recreational field (e.g., Cohos Commons Field), ensuring safe and presentable conditions.
- Clean and maintain sand bins and other outdoor assets.
- Patch roadways using asphalt; conduct minor surface repairs as needed.
- Power wash walkways, walls, and common areas.
- Perform ladder work and remove graffiti from campus buildings and structures.
- Remove dead animals (e.g., mice, birds) from property in a sanitary and timely manner.
- Empty garbage bins bi-weekly at areas including P6 and surface lots; attend to SAITWorks and ad hoc work requests.
- Pick up litter and cigarette butts regularly to maintain a clean appearance across campus.Snow and ice maintenance. I.e. shoveling, spreading deicer, checking and clearing entrances and steps, etc.

**Qualifications**:
**Education & Experience**:

- Certificate or diploma in Horticulture, Landscape Maintenance, Environmental Sciences, or related field preferred.

**Knowledge, Skills & Abilities**:

- Familiarity with safe handling of herbicides and chemicals.
- Ability to identify and care for a range of plants and landscape elements.
- Comfortable with physical labor, ladder use, and working in varied weather conditions.
- Experience using hand tools, power washers, utility vehicles, and lawn care equipment.Strong attention to detail, time management, and the ability to follow verbal and written instructions.

**Work Conditions**:

- Outdoor work year-round; may include exposure to extreme weather.
- Indoor tasks and custodial support as needed.
- Regular lifting (up to 50 lbs), climbing, bending, and walking.
- Use of PPE and adherence to health and safety standards required.