🌎 Full-time Ecological Landscape Crew Lead or Lead Arborist @ SymbiOp

3454 Southeast Powell Boulevard, Portland OR

Description

SymbiOp Landscaping is seeking a Full-time Ecological Landscape Crew Lead or Arborist Lead to join our worker-owned cooperative at 30-40 hours per week. You will be leading a crew of landscape workers of various experience to install landscapes according to designs by our designers, maintain existing landscapes, OR perform tree services. This position will be paid at $20-25 per hour depending on experience. We offer health insurance, paid time off, and retirement account after 90 days. SymbiOp’s mission is to create landscapes that are good for the people and the planet. We specialize in regenerative ecological landscapes that reverse climate change, restore habitats/wildlife, produce food, and are low maintenance. Ultimately, we want to transform all urban and rural landscapes into food forests and/or native landscapes. We also have a native plant nursery (SymbiOp Garden Shop) that’s mostly separate from the landscaping business. SymbiOp became a worker cooperative at the beginning of 2020 and has been growing steadily ever since. We are proud to say we have a work culture that is the opposite of a corporate job. Our wages are fair. Our workers have a healthy work and life balance. We are accountable to each other. We take care of each other. We constantly strive to be more inclusive and equitable. We are all committed to our mission and values. Feel free to read more about us on website - SymbiOp.com The candidate must have: • At least 1 year of experience leading and training a landscape crew OR a tree service crew. • At least 2 years of experience installing and maintaining ecological landscape and hardscapes, OR ecological tree services of all heights • Knowledge of proper landscaping OR arborist techniques • Knowledge of plants that can be used in native landscapes and/or food forests in the Pacific Northwest • Knowledge of regenerative / ecological / indigenous / permaculture practices • Proficiency in standard hand tools and power tools • Ability to lift 50lbs regularly and safely • Proficiency in driving a loaded pickup truck • Ability to designate 3-4 days open for work per week. And notify the coordinator when your schedule changes. A work day is rarely more than 8 hours. • Attention to details. Client centric. Team player. • Proactive and compassionate communication. • Effective project organization and time / priority management. • Ability to adapt to unpredictable and fast-changing work requirements. (As a new business it’s nearly impossible to provide a completely stable and stress-free work environment, as much as we strive to do so.) • Eagerness to learn new things. • Commitment to 2 years of working with us. • Alignment with our SymbiOp’s mission and values. • We don’t care if you don't have a degree. • You must attend mandatory monthly all staff meetings. Attending weekly coordination meetings is optional but encouraged. All meetings and training sessions are paid at $15 per hour for everyone. Good to have one or more of these, but not required: • Experience in wood-working, i.e. building fences, arbors, garden beds, etc. • Skills in cooperative participation such as group decision process, conflict resolution, facilitation, non-violent communication, etc. • Experience founding and operating a new business from the ground up. • Proficiency in collaboration tools, e.g. google calendar, google doc / spreadsheet, slack, zoom, airtable, etc. • Past experience that reflects a commitment to mission and values similar to SymbiOp’s. A bit more about our cooperative: • SymbiOp is a worker-owned cooperative lead by people of color, indigenous people, queer people, people with disabilities, women, and working-class families. • Being a worker-owner comes with added perks and responsibilities, financially and emotionally. • The worker-owners can meet and decide on larger issues facing the cooperative such as governance, wages and benefits, profit sharing, bylaws, etc. Each worker-owner has equal voice and equal voting power. We do our best to reach consensus on as many decisions as possible. • Any worker is eligible to become a worker-owner of the cooperative after going through required training and working at least 2000 hours or a year, whichever is longer. • The existing worker-owners will approve new worker-owners based on criteria such as work performance, long-term commitment, and alignment of mission and values, etc. • The cooperative reserves the right to terminate a worker if they don’t intend to become a worker-owner, or fail to meet the worker-owner criteria at the end of the 2000 hours or 1 year. • We offer all workers paid skill training of all types whenever we can in order to cultivate more expertise and resiliency at an individual and collective level. • All workers enjoy a hefty employee discount when shopping at the SymbiOp Garden Shop. Your next steps: Send us an email with the subject “Employment Application”. Please tell us why you want to work with us, when you can start, how many hours you can work per week, and days and times that you definitely cannot work. Please also attach your resume and at least 2 professional references. Based on your email, we may schedule a phone and/or an in-person interview with you in 2-4 weeks.