Landscape Designer
Being a part of Cudmore’s Landscape & Design means you embody our core values and model them for our wider team and community:
Integrity above all else.
Connection; with each other, our clients and our craft.
Humility, in success and failure.
Guts. To dig in. To show up. To be a good teammate.
Growth, led by curiosity and constant learning.
Role Summary:
A Landscape Designer at Cudmore’s Landscape & Design is a thoughtful listener, creative problem solver and trusted guide for our clients and our team.
This role helps take a project from the earliest conversations and ideas through thoughtful design, planning, budgeting and ultimately successful execution.
You will work closely with clients to understand not just what they want their outdoor space to look like, but how they want it to function and feel. You will translate those conversations into creative, buildable solutions while balancing design, construction best practices, budget, site conditions and long-term goals.
This is a collaborative role, that will work alongside our tenured design lead (25+ years experience) and crew and project leadership teams.
We are seeking someone who is:
- An exceptional listener who takes the time to understand what a client is really trying to achieve.
- Thoughtful and creative in their approach to outdoor spaces.
- Organized, detailed and proactive in their planning.
- Emotionally intelligent and respectful of trades, teammates and clients.
- Confident and experienced with landscape construction processes, best practices and designing for buildability.
- Talented at processing problems and developing functional, thoughtful solutions.
- Interested in drainage, lighting, climate-resilient landscapes and designing spaces with long-term goals in mind.
- Curious and committed to constant growth, regularly asking, “Is there a better way?”
- Kind, collaborative and ego-free.
- Professional and energized by managing a diverse project load - from projects currently in construction to concepts being developed for an upcoming client presentation.
- A plant lover, with an understanding - or genuine desire to learn - how plant material can elevate a project to another level.
- Collaborative with estimators, crew leaders, project managers, clients and trades.
- Someone who believes that a high tide floats all boats and genuinely wants to win alongside their teammates.
- Comfortable presenting ideas clearly, confidently and thoughtfully to clients.
- Able to manage the natural tension between budget and a great idea without losing sight of either.
Areas of skill for this role include:
- Leading client discovery conversations and translating client needs into clear project objectives.
- Developing creative, functional and buildable landscape concepts efficiently
- Understanding landscape construction methods, sequencing and best practices.
- Designing with grading, drainage, site conditions and long-term performance in mind.
- Creating plans that can be clearly understood and successfully executed by our construction teams and trade partners.
- Collaborating with stakeholders to align design intent with project scope and budget.
- Presenting concepts, plans and recommendations clearly to clients
- Managing multiple projects at different stages of the design and construction process.
- Identifying challenges early and proactively developing solutions.
- Understanding scale, balance, proportion and flow within outdoor spaces.
- Incorporating planting design into projects to create layered, thoughtful and complete landscapes.
- Working collaboratively during construction to ensure the original vision is carried through to the finished space and clients are kept informed throughout
Technical skills & experience
Our ideal candidate will bring:
- Proficiency in DynaScape, Vectorworks or an equivalent landscape design program.
- The ability to render, sketch or otherwise communicate ideas effectively in three dimensions - without allowing the presentation process to become unnecessarily cumbersome.
- Experience developing and presenting design concepts against a client brief.
- Strong understanding of landscape construction and designing for buildability.
- A great eye for scale, balance and flow in outdoor environments.
- The ability to balance creativity, practicality and budget throughout the design process.
- Strong organizational and project-management skills.
- Experience working collaboratively with construction teams, trades and clients.
Why we are hiring
- We are thoughtfully adding this role to ensure the quality of our service and design remains ahead of our growth curve.
- The scale and complexity of our projects continues to grow, and we want to add capacity to our team while maintaining - and improving - the level of care, creativity and attention our clients experience.
- We want to deliver a seamless, end-to-end client experience: from the first conversation and earliest concept through construction and the final details.
- We want our clients to feel heard, our teams to feel prepared and supported, and the original vision for a project to be fulfilled in the finished space.
Education & desired experience
- A degree or college diploma in landscape design.
- 3-5 years of direct landscape construction experience is ideal.
Compensation:
- $70,000 - $80,000 commensurate with experience
- Vehicle allowance
- Paid vacation, benefits
What success looks like
- 1 month: shadowing current design and sales team
- 3 months: a clear understanding of Cudmore’s values, meeting rhythms, sales processes, estimating approach, project package templates – co-leading sales opportunities and designing projects with support. Participating in collaborative review of plans with design lead, support project management
- 6 months: completing sales of allocated leads, coming prepared to meetings for review of designs, estimating designs, ownership of project management
- 9 months: supporting the ongoing improvement of design and sales process, autonomously designing, estimating, pming assigned projects/leads.
Cudmore's Landscape & Design is a multi-award-winning, second-generation landscape design-build, outdoor lighting and property care company located in Oakville, Ontario. Proud members of Landscape Ontario, we are an Apprenticeship Employer, Fusion Certified Professional, Grow Employer of Choice and certified Living Wage Employer.
We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted. Please note, our hiring process is as follows and may be adapted according to a role’s requirements.
Selected candidates will participate in a virtual screening with our People & Policy Manager via Google Meet.
Successful candidates will proceed to meet with the Cudmore’s leadership team in person.
Two employer references will be required.
Final interviews will take place in two parts – meeting with field leadership and a final discussion with ownership.
If you require accommodations for the hiring process as stated, please contact us directly. Please note we may ask candidates in second round of interviees to participate in a personality assessment to assist with team building and training preparation.
