Job Details

Grounds Maintenance Worker 2 - Irrigation Tech

This position reports to the Landscape Department Coordinator and supports the Landscape Maintenance team through irrigation system maintenance, underground utility work, and associated earthworks across the SOU campus and Student Apartments and Family Housing (SAFH) properties. The primary focus of this role is the installation, operation, troubleshooting and repair of campus irrigation mainlines and distribution piping, along with related site infrastructure and landscape systems. This position performs complex field work including trenching, pipe installation, mechanical restraint installations, site restoration, and emergency response repairs, while also participating in general landscape maintenance activities, equipment operation, and seasonal response tasks. The role works closely with other landscape staff to maintain safe, functional, and visually appealing campus grounds while supporting the long-term performance and reliability of irrigation and site infrastructure systems.

Minimum Requirements:

• Pesticide applicator's license may be required based on position duties; AND
• Two years experience as a grounds keeper which included plant care; OR
• An Associate's degree in Landscape Technology or Horticulture; OR
• Completion of a Landscape Certification program or license in a horticultural specialty.

Preferred Requirements:

• 3 + years of construction industry experience, preferable in municipal, commercial, institutional or agricultural settings, including experience serving as a crew lead or foreman.
• Demonstrated experience in the operation of heavy equipment, including forklifts, backhoes, compact excavators, skid-steers, light trucks, and equipment trailers.
• Large-scale irrigation systems or underground site utility experience in municipal, commercial, institutional or agricultural environments, including installation, repair and operational management.
• Experience reading and interpreting construction plans and as-built documentation.
• Familiarity with underground utility installation practices, trenching, pipe installation, mechanical restraints, and pressure-rated irrigation piping systems.
• Certifications from the American Water Works Association (AWWA) or equivalent water-industry training programs are highly desirable.
• Irrigation Association certifications (including CLIA, CID and CIC) are valued.
• Public Pesticide Applicator License through the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Must have the license category "Ornamental and Turf-Herbicide". Applicants must obtain this certification within 6 months of hire.

Essential Functions Duties:

• Install, maintain, troubleshoot, and repair campus irrigation and water distribution systems.
• Perform underground utility and earthwork tasks including trenching, pipe installation, mechanical restraints, and site restoration.
• Respond to leaks, system failures, shutdowns, and emergency repairs.
• Place and manage underground utility locate requests and coordinate safe excavation.
• Perform general landscape maintenance including mowing, edging, planting, pruning, mulching, aeration, and grounds upkeep.
• Operate and maintain landscape, irrigation, and construction equipment.
• Maintain required work files and records.
• Interact with faculty, staff, students, vendors and visitors in a courteous and professional manner.
• Performs other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities:

• Excellent communication skills; demonstrated ability to effectively communicate information in a clear and understandable manner, both verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret and consistently apply a wide variety of complex policies and procedures where specific guidelines may not always exist.
• Strong analytical and research skills; demonstrated ability to gather, evaluate, and to develop well-reasoned conclusions and recommendations.
• Great ability to effectively perform work of a highly sensitive and confidential nature that requires access to information. Must be able to exercise sound judgment and discretion, tact, and diplomacy.
• Excellent computer skills and proficiency with a variety of computer applications including word processing, spreadsheets, databases, online systems, social media platforms, Internet as well as online calendaring and email.
• Willingness to and work effectively in a heavily bureaucratic environment which requires regular interaction with a number of levels within the organization and multiple outside agencies.
• Working knowledge or ability to quickly learn, university infrastructure, policies, and procedures.
• Demonstrated ability to provide training and direction to student assistants.
• Maintain a safe and safety-conscious workplace.
• Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance

Physical Demands:

• Pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, stooping, kneeling, crouching; lifting and carrying 70+ lbs., climbing; planting, pruning.
• Using mowers, chainsaws, heavy equipment, rakes, shovels, aerators, plows, blowers and heavy trucks.
• Exposure to chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides), insects and fumes and familiarity with required personal protective equipment.
• Works in a variety of weather conditions.

Special Conditions:

• Must be willing to travel and attend training programs off-site for occasional professional development.
• Must be able to work additional hours and adjust working hours to meet special jobs. May be called back periodically to perform work as needed on an emergency basis.
• Must be able to successfully pass a pre-employment background check.
• This position classification has been defined as non-exempt and is subject to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
• The person holding this position is considered a mandatory reporter under the Oregon Revised Statutes and is required to comply with the requirements set forth by the Oregon Department of Human Services.
• This position requires driving for university business. Final candidates will be contacted by Human Resources to complete the university's driver clearance process. Candidates who hold driver's licenses issued outside the State of Oregon will be required to provide a certified driving record from their state of residence during the assessment phase.

SOU is an equal access AA/EOE committed to achieving a diverse and inclusive workforce In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Southern Oregon University will provide, if requested, reasonable accommodation to applicants in need of accommodation in order to provide access to the application, interviewing, and selection process. You are not required to note the presence of a disability on this application. If, however, you require a reasonable accommodation in the application and/or interview process due to disability, requests must be made in a timely manner to Human Resources.

Diversity Statement: Southern Oregon University is a welcoming community committed to inclusive excellence and the celebration of diversity. Without diversity, our educational process is diminished. Working together in support of our commitment to diversity, we strengthen and enrich our role as learners, educators, and members of a tightly connected global community. We encourage those who share in our commitment to diversity, to join our community and we expect all our employees to demonstrate an ability and desire to create an inclusive campus community.

SOU Land Acknowledgement We want to take this moment to acknowledge that Southern Oregon University is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who lived here since time immemorial. These Tribes were displaced during rapid Euro-American colonization, the Gold Rush, and armed conflict between 1851 and 1856. In the 1850s, the discovery of gold and settlement brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. In 1853 the first of several treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together - who would then be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe. These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return, they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon ( and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians ( are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area. We encourage YOU to learn about the land you reside on and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.

Notice to Prospective Employees Section 485 of the Higher Education Act, and The Federal Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 (now referred to as the "Clery Act"), require that prospective employees be notified of the availability of SOU's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. The report provides the annual statistics and campus policies for the reporting of and responding to campus crimes and fires; access to campus facilities; conduct code and campus policies on the use, possession, and sale of drugs/alcohol; and educational/information programs to inform the