Horticulture and nursery jobs in the UK
Plant production and amenity horticulture — propagation, growing, plant health and the science behind healthy stock.
Horticulture is the science and practice of growing plants. Commercial roles sit in nurseries and plant production, where stock is propagated and grown for sale; in glasshouses and polytunnels, where temperature, irrigation and nutrition are controlled; and in amenity horticulture, where planting schemes in parks, campuses and town centres are maintained to a standard.
Production work is seasonal and technical. You may spend a morning potting on thousands of liners and an afternoon checking irrigation and crop health. Employers look for people who understand why a plant is struggling, not only what to do about it, which is where formal horticultural training shows its value.
Horticulture vacancies
Search all jobsNo open horticulture vacancies today
New roles appear here as employers publish them. In the meantime you can search the full marketplace, set up a job alert from your candidate dashboard, or read the career guidance below to plan your next move.
Career progression
- 1
Nursery assistant or horticultural assistant
Potting, watering, plant handling and stock care under supervision.
- 2
Grower
Taking responsibility for a crop or area: irrigation, feeding, pest control and scheduling.
- 3
Section or head grower
Planning production, ordering stock and managing crop quality and timing.
- 4
Production manager or head horticulturist
Running the site, its budgets, its glasshouse systems and its team.
Qualifications employers ask for
- RHS Level 2 and Level 3 horticulture qualifications
- Level 3 or higher qualifications in horticulture, plant science or production horticulture
- Foundation degree or BSc in horticulture for technical and management roles
- PA1 and PA6 for pesticide use, plus a BASIS qualification in some production roles
- Plant health and biosecurity awareness, increasingly requested by nurseries
Skills that get you hired
- Propagation, potting, pricking out and aftercare
- Irrigation, nutrition and environmental control in protected growing
- Pest, disease and disorder recognition
- Record keeping and stock control
- Careful plant handling and dispatch to a commercial standard
Next step: check the awarding bodies and qualification detail in the training and qualifications directory, or see this route stage by stage in career pathways.
Career advice for this role
- Horticulture Qualifications in the UKA clear overview of the main horticulture qualification pathways in the UK and how to choose between them.
- Starting a Career in HorticultureHorticulture is a broad field with many entry points. This guide maps the sectors and the realistic first steps into each.
- Which RHS qualification is right for you?A guide to RHS Level 1, 2 and 3 — and where each one leads in your career.
Other specialisms
Every specialist page follows the same structure: live vacancies, how the career progresses, and the qualifications employers actually ask for.
Vacancies on this page are advertised directly by employers through Gardening Careers. We do not create example roles to fill a category, and roles advertised on an employer's own website are shown separately as external opportunities. You can also browse the employer directory, read the career advice library, compare career pathways or find training and qualifications.