Vacancies

Full-time, fixed term post (end 30 October 2025), based at The Botanics Shop, John Hope Gateway, Edinburgh
Salary £12.21 per hour (pay award pending)

The Botanics Trading Company Ltd is looking to appoint a seasonal sales assistant to help support the outdoor plant care and sales in the Botanics Shop over the busy summer period.

Applicants should possess excellent customer service skills and experience in a fast-paced retail environment. A friendly outgoing personality and good attention to detail are essential. 

Successful candidates will be required to work at weekends.

To apply, please email recruitment@rbge.org.uk with:
•    your CV
•    a covering letter outlining the skills, knowledge and experience you’d bring to the post
•    a completed equal opportunities questionnaire: EOQ form

Closing date:                          5pm on Monday 19 May 2025
Interview date:                       week beginning 26 May 2025
Recruitment Information:   Job description and person specification

If you haven’t heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume your application hasn’t been successful on this occasion. No recruitment agencies please.

Freelance tutor role based in Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, £20 per hour

Our Schools’ Learning team is looking for a freelance tutor to assist with The Mighty Oaks Club for children aged 8 – 12 years old. The children will take part in an exciting programme where they will explore the power of plants through activities in the garden and accompanying activities inside. Join our team and play your part in our vision of a positive future for plants, people and the planet.

Where & when?

This freelance role spans just over 5 weeks during the Edinburgh Schools summer holidays and is based at our Edinburgh Garden. You will be required between the hours of 9am – 4.30pm. You will be required to undertake some induction and training and help with prep in the week commencing 30^th June.

Required dates:

30^th June – 4^th July – training and induction, & on-site prep

Holiday club week dates

7 – 11 July

14 – 18 July

21 – 25 July

28 July – 1 Aug

Mon/Tues 4^th-5^th Aug – take down & feedback meeting

What does this role entail?

You will assist the RBGE Learning Officer to set up and deliver engaging activities outdoors and in, ensuring a warm, inclusive and safe learning environment for the children. You will assist with the welfare of children, supervising breaks and parent-carer drop off and pick up. You will help support the volunteers and any placement students who are an essential part of the team. You will receive induction and training necessary for the tutor role.

Your skills and experience

You will be a great communicator with a proactive positive attitude and a supportive, caring manner. You will be able to reflect and discuss any observations with the team and help to adapt activities and the plan to suit individual children, the energy levels and interests of the group. You will have a sense of fun and curiosity to encourage exploration and learning about plants and nature in an informal setting. Experience working with children and young people is desirable; willingness to have a go is essential.

You will be required to have a PVG Disclosure for this placement. RBGE will arrange this at no cost to yourself.

Please send notes of interest to schools@rbge.org.uk with

• Your CV
• A completed equal opportunities questionnaire: EOQ Form 

Closing date:                                          Sunday 25th May 2025 (midnight)
Informal interview date:                        w/c 28th May 2025
Recruitment information:                      Freelance Role Description and Person Specification

If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume that your note of interest has not been shortlisted.

Link to procurement framework entry - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=APR475278

Fixed term, full-time (18 months) or 4 days per week (22 months), based in Edinburgh with frequent travel within Scotland
Salary £25,424 (pay award pending) per annum pro rata for part-time, plus civil service pension, generous holiday entitlement and other benefits

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is one of the top botanic gardens in the world. Founded in 1670, RBGE is home to one of the world’s best living collections of plans (13,500 species), a herbarium of three million preserved specimens and one of the UK’s most comprehensive libraries.

We are offering a rare opportunity for a highly motivated individual to gain extensive practical skills in bryophyte identification, field ecology, recording and surveying, backed up with a sound knowledge of bryophyte biology and basic herbarium practices. The bryophytes are the mosses, liverworts and hornworts, which together form a key component of Scotland’s botanical diversity. This traineeship aims to facilitate the development of a career as a specialist bryophyte surveyor or freelance ecologist, and is an 18 month full-time position based in Edinburgh involving regular travel for fieldwork within Scotland (with an option to work part-time for 4 days per week for 22 months instead).

You will be self-motivated and actively seek out learning opportunities, comprehensively supported by staff and associates at RBGE. Formal training will be intermittent and for much of the time you will be working on your own (with access to the extensive RBGE facilities and in-house expertise). A key part of the work will be a project placement elsewhere in Scotland during which you will pursue a bryophyte surveying or research objective, submitting a written report as a formal deliverable of the traineeship. There is flexibility around the location and nature of the placement, dependent on your personal interests and the opportunities available with partner institutions.

You should have a strong interest in bryophytes and an enthusiasm to learn, backed up with an eye for detail, an aptitude for pattern recognition and an ability to manipulate fine structures using microscopy. You will be independent and capable of undertaking moderately strenuous fieldwork in remote, sometimes mountainous terrain. Although you are not expected to have significant expertise in bryology at the outset, you should have some basic knowledge, while wider experience and/or formal qualifications in natural history, nature conservation or ecology are highly desirable.

To apply, please email recruitment@rbge.org.uk with:
•    your CV
•    a covering letter outlining the skills, knowledge and experience you’d bring to the post
•    and submit electronically the equal opportunities questionnaire linked here: EOQ form

Closing date:                           12 midday BST, Friday 6 June 2025
Interview date:                        w/c 16 June 2025 
Recruitment Information:    Job description and person specification

If you haven’t heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume your application hasn’t been successful on this occasion. No recruitment agencies please.

21 hours £31,080, Pay award pending (Pro rata £18,648) Part Time, Fixed Term (11 months)

Our Schools’ Learning team is looking for a Secondary Learning Officer to lead on our Secondary school offer. The role is 21 hours per week part-time and there is flexibility in the days worked (depending on requirements of the programming). The Botanics has an important part to play to complement learning in schools and to give experience of important real-world research and skills. This role leads on development and delivery of our programmes for young people which aim to inspire the next generation of botanists, horticulturists, environmental scientists, educators and engaged citizens at this time of climate change and biodiversity loss.

What does this role entail?

The role includes coordinating, preparing and delivering established programmes such as:

• Our week-long Science Summer School in August for 15-17 year-olds which goes behind the scenes into our collections and introduces young people to the work of the Botanics through activities such as fieldwork, plant ID and lab work
• Taxonomy Day where Advanced Higher students meet scientists and take part in tours and activities
• Herbarium tours for Higher/Advanced higher students
• Careers and Learning for Sustainability outreach sessions

You will also be responsible for developing and delivering sessions for teachers and ITE students, online resources, and responding to requests from Secondary Schools. An important part of this role is to maintain and build on existing networks and ensuring we are meeting the needs of our audiences.

Our holistic approach fosters development of teamworking and meta skills and in providing experiential experiences that bring learning about the importance of plant biodiversity to life and increase green skills. Our aim is to welcome, enthuse and value young people, so they become ambassadors for plants, planet and for the Botanics.

Your skills, knowledge and experience

You will have experience of teaching young people in formal/informal settings. You will have a strong knowledge and understanding of content in the secondary Biology curriculum up to Advanced Higher level or equivalent knowledge of subject matter gained in study/the workplace. You will have a background in STEM subjects with an interest in plant biodiversity and ecology, and skills in plant identification and field work. A familiarity with lab work, such as DNA extraction, and microscopy work is desirable. You will be a great communicator with a proactive positive attitude and a supportive, encouraging manner who can model curiosity, a love of learning, and a passion for plants and sustainability to young people. A flexible, inclusive, delivery style is essential to respond to needs of the individuals and the groups.

This role brings an exciting opportunity to immerse yourself in the work of a world-renowned Botanic Garden and collaborate with a team of educators, botanists and other experts in their field. Join us and play your part in our vision of a positive future for plants, people and the planet.

You will be required to have a PVG Disclosure for this role. RBGE will arrange this at no cost to yourself.

To apply, please email recruitment@rbge.org.uk with:

A covering letter

Your CV

A completed equal opportunities questionnaire: EOQ Form

Closing date:                    Sunday 2 June 2025 (midnight)

Interview date:                  9/10 June (TBC)

Recruitment information:  Secondary Learning Officer Job Description/Person Specification

If you haven’t heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume your application hasn’t been successful on this occasion. No recruitment agencies please.