Strategic Account Manager / Irrigation Supervisor in Houston, Texas at Earthworks, Inc

Position Summary

The Strategic Account Manager / Irrigation Supervisor is a key leadership position responsible for managing and growing one of the company’s largest and most important client portfolios while supporting irrigation operations within the branch.

The primary focus of this role is to serve as the main point of contact and relationship manager for assigned strategic accounts, ensuring exceptional service, proactive communication, strong property performance, client retention, and account growth. This individual must possess extensive horticultural and landscape knowledge and be capable of evaluating property conditions, identifying concerns, developing solutions, and making recommendations to both clients and internal teams.

This position will also oversee the scheduling and coordination of irrigation crews and provide technical support and training when needed.

The role is intended to provide a development path toward a Junior Branch Manager position as the company prepares to establish a new satellite branch.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Account Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for an assigned portfolio of high-value strategic accounts.
• Develop strong relationships with property managers, regional managers, maintenance teams, and other key client stakeholders.
• Conduct regular property walks and proactively evaluate landscape quality, horticultural conditions, irrigation performance, and overall appearance.
• Maintain consistent communication with clients regarding property conditions, service performance, upcoming needs, and recommendations.
• Take ownership of client concerns and coordinate with internal teams to ensure timely resolution.
• Identify opportunities for enhancements, replacements, irrigation improvements, seasonal color, plant health care, and other additional services.
• Assist with developing proposals and presenting recommendations to clients.
• Maintain a strong focus on client retention, account growth, and expanding relationships within the client's portfolio.
• Understand the financial performance of assigned accounts and ensure services are being delivered efficiently and profitably.

Horticultural & Landscape Expertise

• Possess strong working knowledge of plant material, turf, trees, shrubs, seasonal color, soils, irrigation, fertilizers, chemicals, pests, diseases, and proper horticultural practices.
• Identify plant health, turf, irrigation, pest, disease, and cultural issues during property inspections and recommend appropriate corrective action.
• Provide horticultural guidance and support to field supervisors, crews, account managers, and clients.
• Help ensure properties are maintained according to company standards, horticultural best practices, and client expectations.
• Assist in training and developing field personnel in proper landscape maintenance and horticultural practices.

Irrigation Operations

• Coordinate the scheduling and dispatching of irrigation technicians and crews.
• Review and prioritize irrigation work orders, inspections, repairs, and client requests.
• Monitor open irrigation work and ensure repairs and follow-up items are completed in a timely manner.
• Provide technical guidance and field support to irrigation personnel when necessary.
• Assist with training and developing irrigation technicians and improving overall department performance.
• Coordinate irrigation needs and recommendations with clients, account managers, and field leadership.

Leadership & Operational Development

• Work closely with branch leadership to coordinate resources and resolve operational challenges.
• Help monitor labor efficiency, quality, productivity, and profitability within assigned areas.
• Participate in branch leadership meetings and operational planning.
• Assist with recruiting, onboarding, training, and developing field personnel as needed.
• Promote accountability, professionalism, safety, communication, and continuous improvement.
• Develop an understanding of branch-level financial performance, including revenue, labor, expenses, and gross margin.
• Demonstrate the ability to lead employees, manage clients, solve problems, and take ownership of results.

Future Junior Branch Manager Development

A key objective of this position is to prepare the successful candidate for future branch leadership. As the company develops a new satellite branch, this individual will progressively gain experience in:

• Client and portfolio management
• Employee leadership and development
• Scheduling and workforce planning
• Quality control and customer satisfaction
• Revenue, labor, expenses, and profitability
• Sales and account growth
• Recruiting and team development
• Equipment and resource management
• Overall branch operations

The long-term goal is for this individual to develop into a Junior Branch Manager capable of helping launch and operate the new satellite location.

Qualifications

• Extensive horticultural and landscape knowledge is required.
• Strong understanding of plant identification, plant health, turf management, irrigation, pests, diseases, fertilizers, chemicals, and proper landscape maintenance practices.
• Experience in commercial landscape maintenance, preferably within the multifamily or commercial property-management environment.
• Previous account management, supervisory, or operational leadership experience preferred.
• Working knowledge of commercial irrigation systems and troubleshooting.
• Strong client relationship, communication, and customer-service skills.
• Ability to professionally communicate recommendations and solutions to clients.
• Strong organizational, scheduling, leadership, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and take ownership of issues through resolution.
• Comfortable working in both office and field environments.
• Basic understanding of labor management, budgeting, job costing, and operational profitability preferred.
• Valid driver's license and acceptable driving record.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a relationship-driven, horticulturally knowledgeable leader who understands both the client-facing and operational sides of commercial landscape maintenance.

This individual should be comfortable walking a property with a regional manager and confidently discussing landscape conditions and recommendations, while also being capable of working with field teams to ensure those expectations are executed properly.

We are looking for someone who takes ownership, develops strong client relationships, understands the landscape business, can lead and develop people, and has the ambition to grow into branch leadership as the company expands.

Measures of Success

Success in this position will be measured by client retention and satisfaction, portfolio growth, landscape quality, responsiveness to client needs, account profitability, development of field personnel, irrigation department performance, and demonstrated readiness for future branch-management responsibilities.

Career Path: Strategic Account Manager / Irrigation Supervisor ? Junior Branch Manager ? Branch Manager