Irrigation Manager

Your Next Employer
  
Our client is a well-capitalised agribusiness that develops and manages large-scale horticulture across Australia. In the Riverina, they are converting a 2,500ha-plus aggregation to super high-density (SHD) olives. The first trees went in during 2025, and planting continues in rounds of 300 to 350ha every six months until the planted area reaches 1,500ha. It is one of several tree-crop developments the group is bringing on in the region.

Water comes off the river to an on-farm dam, with two bores alongside and a third to be developed, and a substantial Murrumbidgee entitlement behind it. The drip system runs through three pump sheds and three filter sheds with 13 fertigation pumps, and extends as each new round goes in. SHD olives grow on trellis with vineyard-style machinery, and once established the business rates them no harder to run than wine grapes.

The Role
  
Reporting to the Farm Manager, you will own the irrigation system from scheduling and fertigation through to water ordering and the maintenance behind it, with technical support close by when you want it.

You'll be on the system every day: digging holes, checking soil, walking lines and fixing what you find across thousands of kilometres of drip line on 4m rows, with an Irrigation Supervisor working alongside you.

Over the next two years, you'll set the programme the orchard runs on, scaling it round by round as the trees grow.
  
Key Responsibilities

• Schedule & Run the System. Programme irrigation five to seven days ahead from soil-moisture data and the water budget, adjusting for tree age and soil variation as the orchard establishes. Monitor pressures, flow rates and water quality, and order river water at least five days out.
• Execute Fertigation. Contribute to the fertigation plan alongside the Farm Manager, then run it to schedule. Order fertiliser and keep product on hand ahead of each application.
• Maintain & Troubleshoot. Find and fix leaks, flush lines and service filters through the season, run off-season maintenance across pumps, filtration and field equipment, and keep critical spares stocked.
• Keep the Records. Log water and fertiliser use so the programme can be checked at any point.
• Coordinate & Work Safely. Bring each new planting onto the system with the Farm Manager and development contractors. Work to the site's safety systems and report incidents, hazards and near misses.

What You Bring
  
Our ideal candidate comes from an irrigation background on tree crops, vineyards or another permanent crop, with automated drip system experience.

Individuals coming from an Irrigation Supervisor or similar position, ready to step into their first management role, are encouraged to apply, provided the automated drip experience is there.

Essential:

• Experience running and maintaining pressurised drip irrigation on a permanent crop, including automated control and soil-moisture scheduling.
• Strong irrigation software and computer-based scheduling experience.
• Hands-on operator who is on the system daily.
• Willing to live on farm.
• Current driver's licence.
• Chemical accreditation, or obtained after starting.

Advantageous:

• Olives or other permanent crops: wine or table grapes, nuts, citrus, stone fruit.
• Greenfield or development-phase experience.
• Fertigation execution and fertiliser stock control.
• Ordering water through a river operator or irrigation corporation.
• Basic pump and mechanical skills.
• Irrigation or horticulture qualification, or exposure to water budgeting and usage reporting.

What You'll Gain

• Package: $120k - $130k + Super + work ute + house + bonus (~10%) + 5% L&D budget.
• Support: A Farm Manager with irrigation experience and a Farm Administrator on site, backed by the wider Riverina team.
• Growth: A structured development budget each year, and scope that widens as planting continues and the team around you fills out.
• Lifestyle: Renovated five-bedroom house on farm with a swimming pool, utilities included, within an hour of Griffith and Wagga Wagga.

How to Step Forward
  
For more information or a confidential chat, please contact Lemuel Cruz, Talent Specialist, on [0468 093 444](tel:0468 093 444) or Nick Marchant, Director, on [0466 333 066](tel:0466 333 066).

Who Are March
  
March offers permanent recruitment and workforce planning services tailored exclusively to Australian agribusinesses. We're about connecting top talent with great businesses - plain and simple.