Full-time / 37 hours per week / Permanent
Are you an experienced Tractor Driver and would you like to make improvements to the landscape of the city?
Leicester is covered by a wealth of soft and hard open spaces that includes a range of parks, gardens, country parks, nature areas,150,000 individual trees and 107 hectares of woodlands, canal and riverside, 150 play and outdoor gym facilities, sports facilities, highways and housing green spaces totalling 1,250 hectares. It is widely recognised that quality open spaces contribute to residents’ quality of life and improve physical and mental health wellbeing, with parks in Leicester attracting around 9m visitors per annum.
Join our specialist team of Craft Gardeners as a Tractor Technician to undertake high quality horticultural work and grounds maintenance work to maintain and further improve parks and open spaces and all other green infrastructure within the city of Leicester.
You’ll be based at Evington Park grounds maintenance depot however you may be required to work at any of our other parks and open spaces across the city.
This is full-time, permanent position, working 37 hours per week from Monday to Friday. You’ll be available to start at 7.30am and when required work outside of normal working hours including providing emergency cover for out of hours. You’ll be able to work outside in all weathers, anywhere in the city and wear PPE where appropriate.
What you'll be doing
You’ll undertake specific activities relating to the use of tractors and associated equipment, and act as a mentor and coach in this area. For two days of the week you’ll operate tractors and ensure the equipment is fully utilised. The remainder of the working week you’ll carry out other ground maintenance duties such preparing and applying chemicals, keeping sites clean and tidy, and maintaining sports features such as artificial surfaces. You’ll operate and maintain hand and mechanical specialist equipment in accordance with health and safety guidelines. You’ll be confident in providing advice to people using our facilities to ensure a high standard of customer service is achieved.
You’ll provide Tractor duty cover for holidays and absences.
What you’ll need
You’ll have experience of driving tractors as well the appropriate tractor driving/operator qualification. With substantial experience in either horticulture or groundsmanship, you'll understand COSHH regulations and have knowledge of health & safety issues relating to area of work and HASWA. You'll have the ability to carry out manual handling and lifting heavy equipment and materials. You’ll be able to work without close supervision, use your own initiative as well as work well in a team environment. You’ll be a highly safety conscious individual in the day to day tasks especially when using specialist equipment. Using good literacy and numeracy skills you’ll complete relevant paperwork, and ensure records are accurate and up to date.
A full driving licence is essential as you will be required to carry out driving duties.
What we can offer you
As well as the satisfaction of helping to improve thousands of lives across Leicester, you can look forward to a work environment that encourages a healthy work/life balance. You’ll enjoy generous annual leave, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the option of flexible working. We’ll also give you the chance to develop your skills and expertise with a variety of training and development opportunities. In addition, you can choose from a number of flexible benefits, including childcare vouchers, discounts on city buses and trains and help with relocation to Leicester, where appropriate. For an illustrative value of your benefits package, take a look at our benefits calculator.
Join us
We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly-talented workforce as we continue to build a council that is fitting and representative of our great city. That’s why we’ve designed our recruitment process to put you at your ease, make you feel welcome and bring the best out of you. We’ll do all we can to make our recruitment process as fair as possible. To help you with your application, take a look at the ‘our approach to recruitment’ page.
For an informal discussion, or further information regarding this job please contact Mark Humphrey by email to mark.humphrey@leicester.gov.uk or call 0116 454 3774.
Assessment/Interviews will take place on Thursday 8th September 2022