Senior Arborist, Wellington
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Wellington City Council

Senior Arborist

  • Posted 2w ago
  • On Site
  • Full Time

$74.14  -  $87.22 k/yr

Wellington

Job Description

Kia mahi ngātahi mō Pōneke mō tōna āpōpō | Working together for Wellington's future

The Customer and Community (C&C) Group is focused on creating a well-connected, engaged, and thriving community by delivering a variety of essential services in a way that enhances social, cultural, and recreational aspects of Pōneke.


The Parks Operations team provide a crucial customer facing support service, ensuring the city's residents and visitors enjoy a well-managed and maintained environment. The tree team play a crucial role ensuring that Wellington's trees are safe and well managed for everyone to enjoy and benefit from.  Join the team and experience the satisfaction of contributing to make Wellington City a green and great place to be.


Our team is responsible for:

  • Day to day maintenance of over 14,000 street trees and 700km of road network
  • Maintaining Wellington's Parks and Reserves, including Karori cemetery, Botanic Gardens and Town Belt
  • Contributing to the safe and efficient day to day running of the team and its resources


We are looking for two level 4 qualified arborists, ideally with a Class 2 drivers licence, to be a leader within a team of passionate arborists carrying out all aspects of modern arboriculture.

As a Senior Arborist, you will be responsible for all the operational aspects associated with tree maintenance throughout Wellington City. This includes utility line clearances, complex tree dismantles within Karori cemetery and the Town Belt, geospatial data entry and maintenance for tree asset surveys and tree risk assessments.

You will be someone with a high degree of technical expertise and experience, excellent relationship and people management skills. You will be someone who looks to deliver excellent customer service and inspire your team to do the same.


To be successful in this role you will have;

  • A high degree of technical expertise and experience
  • People coaching skills
  • Excellent understanding of and adherence to health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace
  • Clean class 2 NZ driver's licence (preferred)
  • Good level of physical fitness


In exchange for your skills, you'll work for an organisation that really values its people - we provide an extremely broad range of training and professional development opportunities and emphasise the welfare of our people and places.

Because this is a safety sensitive role the successful applicant will be required to undergo pre-employment drug and alcohol, health and musculoskeletal testing in addition to Ministry of Justice checks


The Council uses the AS/NZ drug standard to determine the cut off levels for drug testing. Some prescription drugs may be included within this standard.

For more information, please contact Justin Garbutt - Team Manager Arboriculture Justin.Garbutt@wcc.govt.nz


Nōu te rourou | What's in it for you

Working for the Council offers you a range of benefits including 5 weeks annual leave, flexible working options, health and wellbeing support, Council staff discounts and a range of learning and development programmes and opportunities.

We expect the appointment to be within the salary range of $74,141 to $87,224 per annum, depending on skills and experience.


Applications close 23 September 2026. All applications must be submitted online.

Diversity: We want your application to enable you to portray the real you. Skills are gained across many areas of our life, not just formal employment.  If you can demonstrate the skills listed in the advert through whānau life, community or mahi aroha (volunteering) we encourage you to apply and share your story with us in your cover letter. We welcome applications from all walks of life and like our workforce to reflect the diverse communities we serve.


Accessibility Support: We want to make sure any accessibility requirements you may have, are well supported so the selection process is equitable for everyone. Please let us know if there are any adjustments or support, we can offer to make our process more accessible to you by emailing: recruitment@wcc.govt.nz

Desired Hard Skills

  • Class 2 Driver's Licence
  • Geospatial Data Entry
  • Health and Safety Compliance
  • Tree Maintenance
  • Tree Risk Assessment

Desired Soft Skills

  • Team Leadership
  • Customer Service
  • People Coaching
  • Physical Fitness
  • Relationship Management

Benefits & Perks

Culture

  • 🤱 Extended Parental Leave
  • 🏛 Fully Paid Jury Service
  • 🏘 Work from Home
  • 🧕 Inclusive Workspace
  • ❤ Care and Appreciation
  • ⚖ Work-Life Balance Support
  • 🧠 Mental Health Workshops
  • 💚 Counselling Services
  • 💪 Physical Health Workshops
  • 🌿 Wellness Program
  • 🏥 Subsidised Health Insurance
  • 📈 Professional Development
  • 🏎 Competitive Salary
  • 🎉 Employee Discounts and Rewards
  • 🎖 Long Service Rewards
  • 💻 Company Supplied Technology
  • ⏰ Flexible Work
View All
  • 🧠 Neurodiverse
  • 💰 Wage Equality
  • 🏃 Women Leadership
  • 👩 Woman CEO
  • 💸 Living Wage
  • 🤝 Unionisation
  • 🙌 Community Focused
  • 🌐 INZ Accredited Employer
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