Plant Health Care and Lawn Manager

Job Description:

Plant Health Care & Lawn Manager

Location: Southampton, NY

Job Type: Full-Time, Year-Round

Base Salary: $105,000 – $115,000 plus commission

About Peconic Lawn & Tree Care

Since 2003, Peconic has cared for some of the most demanding properties on Long Island's East End. From our shop in Southampton, we deliver turf programs, certified arborist tree care, plant health care, irrigation, and estate maintenance across the Hamptons — oceanfront lots with salt exposure, pond-adjacent parcels, specimen trees, and Village properties where the standard is exacting and the client notices everything.

We are not a volume operation. Our work is customized property by property, and our reputation is built on getting the turf science right.

About This Role

We're looking for someone to own our turf and plant health care program end to end — price it, sell it, and then go out and execute it at a high level.

This is a build role, not a caretaker role. You'll be responsible for growing the PHC and lawn side of the business: walking properties, diagnosing what's actually happening in the soil and canopy, writing programs that solve it, closing the work, and standing behind the results.

If you're a golf course superintendent thinking about the next move, read this one closely. The technical skill set transfers directly — soil chemistry, disease pressure, irrigation management, cultural practices, reading turf under stress. What's different is that you'd be applying it across a portfolio of high-end residential properties, with a commission upside tied to the book you build.

What You'll Do

Sell the work

• Walk properties, diagnose turf and plant health issues, and build customized programs
• Price programs accurately — you own the numbers, not just the turf science
• Close new business and expand existing accounts through renewals and add-on services
• Communicate directly with discerning estate clients and property managers, in person and in writing

Do the work

• Execute applications, treatments, and cultural practices yourself, especially on the properties that demand the most
• Diagnose disease, insect, and abiotic problems in the field and adjust programs as conditions change
• Apply all products in strict accordance with label requirements and NYS DEC regulations
• Manage product inventory, application records, and required reporting

Lead the program

• Supervise and develop a plant health care technician, with room to grow the team
• Train technicians and apprentices toward their own certification
• Coordinate with our arborists, irrigation team, and maintenance crews so programs work together rather than against each other

What You Bring

Required

• Deep, demonstrated turfgrass expertise, this is the non-negotiable
• NYS DEC Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator, Category 3a (Ornamentals, Shade Trees & Turf). We need a certified applicator, not a technician, so you can supervise applications, purchase and handle restricted-use products, and train technicians and apprentices toward their own certification
• Proven experience pricing, selling, and delivering turf or plant health care programs
• Ability to diagnose turf and ornamental problems in the field without sending everything to a lab
• Valid driver's license and clean driving record
• Genuine drive to grow something — we want someone hungry, not someone comfortable

Preferred

• Degree in turfgrass science, horticulture, soil science, or plant science
• Golf course superintendent or assistant superintendent background
• Familiarity with Long Island groundwater regulations and Suffolk County application restrictions
• Experience with high-end residential or estate clientele
• Bilingual English/Spanish

Physical Requirements

With or without reasonable accommodation, this role requires the ability…