About the National Garden Scheme
The National Garden Scheme is the most significant charitable funder of nursing charities in the country, donating £3.9 million in 2025 and over £77 million since 1927. Our beneficiary charities include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Carers Trust, Hospice UK, The Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing and Parkinson’s UK.
We help our garden owners open their beautiful gardens to the public, sharing their passion and raising impressive amounts of money through admission fees, refreshments and plant sales. Over 3,000 gardens open each year for the National Garden Scheme and further details about them and the organisation as a whole can be found on our website, www.ngs.org.uk.
About the Head of Operations
At the National Garden Scheme a small central office with a team of 13 is the hub for a wide range of activity involving hundreds of volunteers, thousands of garden owners and a large audience of beneficiary charities, suppliers, supporters and partners, as well as members of the public who want to visit gardens and engage with the charity.
Part of the management team, the Head of Operations leads and manages County Support, a team of four who deliver the resources, information and support needed by our volunteer county organising teams who support the garden owners. The Head of Operations is key in ensuring that the volunteers feel valued and supported.
The right candidate will have experience of database management, ideally Microsoft Dynamics, so that they can update, interrogate and maintain our database and online portal (Power Pages) through which garden owners register and manage their garden data. We are currently updating our IT system and there will be a need for change management to ensure that staff and volunteers are comfortable using the new system.
The successful applicant will be comfortable in a busy, hands-on and varied role and the key requirements are efficiency and excellent communication skills. This is a role for a meticulous, problem-solving people person.
The ethos of the National Garden Scheme is rooted in generosity and kindness and the office in Clandon, Surrey is a warm and welcoming place to work.
If you have any questions regarding the role please contact Georgina Waters at [email protected] or on 01483 211795.
For more information, click here: Head of Operations 2026
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