Horticulture Senior Production Manager

Hampshire

£DOE + Car Allowance + Excellent Benefits

Want to help shape the future of one of the UK's most respected nurseries?

Ready to lead production at real scale and be part of a major modernisation programme?

Hillier Nurseries, recently named International Grower of the Year, is offering a rare opportunity for an experienced Senior Production Manager to join its award-winning team. With more than 160 years of horticultural heritage and major development projects planned, there's never been a more exciting time to join Hillier as it continues to invest in modern, sustainable growing.

What's in it for me?

• You'll be joining a business with deep horticultural roots and ambitious plans for the future.
• Competitive salary + car allowance
• 31 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Private healthcare, pension & life assurance
• Employee discount
• The chance to play a major role in Hillier's next phase of development and modernisation.

What's the job?

As Senior Production Manager at Hillier, you'll lead the day-to-day running of production across the two nursery sites, ensuring crops are grown to exceptional quality, operations run efficiently, and the business is ready for its next stage of growth.

It's a role with real influence. You'll work closely with Hillier's senior leadership, support a skilled, growing team, and help shape new processes, new technology, and long-term improvements across the nursery.

Day to day, you'll be:

• Managing production operations and driving high standards across both Hillier sites
• Leading, developing and supporting the growing team.
• Owning budgets, labour planning and CAPEX delivery
• Ensuring Hillier's nurseries run safely, professionally, and fully compliantly.
• Managing procurement and stock availability across all key inputs
• Driving crop scheduling and collaborating with the horticulture & propagation teams
• Supporting new product development and variety introductions
• Championing continuous improvement, sustainability, and modern production methods
• Acting as the key point of contact for plant health, crop protection and plant passporting

This is very much a hands-on leadership role; you'll be visible across the nurseries, close to the crops, and central to Hillier's success.

What do I need?

• Extensive experience in commercial nursery production
• A background in people management, with the ability to build and develop high-performing teams.
• Strong technical plant knowledge: crop scheduling, plant health, propagation, irrigation, nutrition
• Experience delivering operational change and introducing new technology or processes.
• Confidence with data, KPIs, planning and commercial decision‑making.
• A forward-thinking, solutions-focused mindset.
• Passion for sustainable growing and modern horticultural methods

What's next?

For an informal chat, please call Sarah Want at MorePeople on 01780 480530, email sarah@morepeople.co.uk, or drop me a message on LinkedIn.

Don't worry if your CV isn't up to date, just send what you have, and we'll take it from there.

MorePeople are the exclusive recruitment partner for this project. Any CVs sent directly to Hillier Nurseries will be referred back to MorePeople.