Propagation Lead

As the Chief Propagation Strategist & Master Director for HBD’s nursery and tunnel infrastructure, you design, direct, and optimise the overarching propagation roadmap across all shade tunnels, mist houses, and hardening zones. While growers and propagators focus on bench-level daily execution, you establish long-term production schedules, species targets, environmental controls, and botanical trial strategies.

As a Biodiversity Guardian, you recognise that property portfolio excellence funds the preservation of critically endangered Renosterveld and Fynbos. By driving high-level horticultural science, optimising tunnel capacity, and expanding rare species multiplication, you secure the biological capital that defines HBD's living legacy.

Primary Focus Areas

1. Knowledge, SOPs & Frameworks

• Propagation Protocols Development: Author, refine, and enforce SOPs for propagating complex, recalcitrant, or critically endangered flora (including Renosterveld endemics).
• Propagation Learning Loop & Knowledge Capture: Ensure every trial, batch outcome, and seasonal cycle is systematically logged and analysed (by method, substrate, timing, and strike rate) to refine future iterations.
• Wild-to-Tunnel Intake Protocols: Establish strict intake, cleaning, and staging protocols for wild-sourced specimens to minimise transport shock and prevent field-borne pathogens.
• Genetic Safeguarding & Provenance: Enforce strict provenance tracking from field coordinates to tunnel bench tags, preserving rare Renosterveld and Fynbos genotypes for ex-situ conservation.
• Biosecurity & Risk Governance: Set nursery-wide biosecurity protocols, quarantine standards, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies to protect collections from catastrophic failure or pests (e.g., PSHB).

2. Botanical Operations & Strategic Supply

• Production Master Scheduling: Translate conservation priorities and landscape demands into multi-season master plans, forecasting plant material needs and setting batch timelines.
• Commercial & Contract Grower Management: Build relationships with wholesale nurseries and outsource high-volume standard stock production to protect internal tunnel capacity for rare conservation species.
• Mother Stock & Genetic Asset Governance: Establish dedicated, accessioned "Mother Stock" collections (living hedgerows and parent orchards) to secure cutting material without over-stressing wild populations.
• Portfolio & Landscape Integration: Align propagation pipelines with long-term demands of the Horticultural Lead and property developments to forecast stock readiness for major projects.

3. Yield Metrics & Research Strategy

• Tunnel & Micro-Climate Strategy: Design environmental protocols (temperature, humidity, lighting, mist cycles) and spatial allocation across tunnels and shade structures for maximum yield.
• Yield & Success Metrics: Analyse nursery output to establish target strike rates, germination benchmarks, and turnaround times across all plant families.
• Experimental Trials & Innovation: Direct controlled trials on hormone concentrations, custom substrates, mycorrhizal inoculation, and misting regimes to resolve production bottlenecks.
• Database & Botanical Strategy: Oversee scientific integrity within IrisBG, ensuring research findings, trial outcomes, and provenance data advance ex-situ conservation.

Secondary Focus Areas

4. Leadership, Team Direction & Technical Mentorship

• Operational Command: Convert strategic objectives into clear operational priorities, goals, and technical guidance for propagators and growers.
• Capacity Building: Mentor staff on cutting-edge horticultural science, advanced propagation techniques, and technical problem-solving.
• Infrastructure Upgrades: Evaluate tunnel tech, automated mist controllers, heating elements, and hardware to submit strategic efficiency recommendations.
• Institutional & Botanical Alliances: Represent HBD in scientific networks—partnering with botanical gardens, universities, and trusts for seed/pollen exchange, tissue culture, and joint ex-situ preservation.

What you must bring:

• Qualifications & Experience: Bachelor of Horticulture or higher qualification in Plant Sciences or related field, with proven experience directing commercial or botanical garden nursery operations.
• Technical Mastery: Macro propagation scheduling, multi-tunnel micro-climate management, botanical databases (IrisBG), environmental controller software, and trial design for recalcitrant species.
• The "Dragon" Mindset: A data-driven growth builder who treats every tunnel as a laboratory of biodiversity—combining scientific rigor with operational foresight to turn rare botanical specimens into thriving landscapes.

Work Location: In person