Planting Design Specialist - Chicago

Designing Landscapes Through Plants

At Hoerr Schaudt, planting design is a design discipline integral to our design process.

We’re looking for an experienced planting designer who wants to build a career around plants—using horticultural knowledge, design thinking, and field experience to create landscapes with lasting visual, ecological, and emotional impact.

You’ll work within a collaborative studio of landscape architects, planting designers, urban designers, and horticulturists, shaping planting from early design through documentation, sourcing, installation, and establishment.

This is an opportunity for a designer who wants plants to be their primary design medium.

What Makes This Role Different

Planting designers at Hoerr Schaudt are involved throughout the life of a project.

You will analyze sites, develop planting concepts, create visual narratives, select and source plant material, produce planting documentation, coordinate with multidisciplinary teams, and help direct installation in the field.

We’re looking for someone who is creative, curious, and passionate about the ecological, visual, and emotional impact plants can have on a place.

Who Thrives Here

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Notice plants wherever you go.
• Are curious about how landscapes change over time.
• Understand plants as design material—not simply species on a schedule.
• Think about composition, structure, texture, seasonality, ecology, and experience.
• Enjoy moving between big-picture design thinking and detailed problem solving.
• Want to understand both how landscapes are designed and how they are built.
• Are comfortable collaborating in the studio and making decisions in the field.
• Want to become exceptionally good at planting design.

Grow Your Expertise

This position is intended for a designer with meaningful planting design experience who is ready to deepen their expertise.

You will take increasing responsibility for planting concepts, design communication, documentation, project coordination, and construction. You’ll work alongside experienced landscape architects, planting designers, and horticulturists to strengthen your judgment about both what to plant and how to create sophisticated, resilient, and memorable landscapes.

If you are interested in this position, we encourage you to e-mail us your resume and portfolio (limit size to 10 MB) to Meg Graham, Director of HR at [email protected] (note ‘Planting Design Specialist’ in the subject line).

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in landscape architecture or horticulture, or comparable professional experience.
• Approximately 5–8 years of planting design experience.
• Strong horticultural knowledge and understanding of plant performance across multiple hardiness zones.
• Knowledge of all layers of planting—from structural plants through the mid-layer and ground plane.
• Experience designing planting at multiple scales.
• Strong hand and/or digital graphic communication skills.
• Experience producing and interpreting planting plans and documentation.
• Ability to provide guidance and make informed planting and layout decisions in the field.
• Understanding of gardening, maintenance, plant care, pruning, and horticultural best practices.
• Strong organizational, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Experience carrying high-quality design through documentation, construction, and completion.

Landscape architecture licensure is preferred but not required.
Experience with parametric design is a plus.

The Field Is Part of the Studio

Planting design does not end when the drawings are issued.

This role includes opportunities to evaluate plant material, visit nurseries and project sites, direct installation, respond to field conditions, and help ensure the built landscape reflects the original design intent.

The position includes approximately 20–30% travel, fluctuating seasonally, and requires the ability to work indoors and outdoors in varying conditions and occasionally perform light physical work.

Reliable personal transportation is required.
This position is located in Chicago.

Join Our Planting Design Practice

We’re looking for someone who sees planting design as both a creative pursuit and a serious professional discipline—someone who wants to create places where planting is fundamental to the experience, not simply a finishing layer.

If plants are the medium through which you want to build your design career, we’d love to hear from you.

What We Offer:   

• Competitive salary and benefits package   
• Please see a list of our benefits on our careers page   
• Opportunities for professional development and career growth.   
• Collaborative and supportive work environment.   
• Access to cutting-edge tools and technologies in landscape design.   

Additional Information:  

• Work Environment: Monday through Friday 8:30-5:30 with an hour for lunch/breaks.  
• Benefits: Health benefits paid time off, 401(k), to/from office commute paid, or parking provided, and opportunities for career growth within a dynamic and expanding company.  
• Salary: Range is $70,000-92,000; the offer will be based on experience, skills and background in similar positions.  

Physical requirements of the role:  

• Lifting, Carrying and Moving: Frequent lifting, carrying and moving up to 20 lbs. or more of plant and landscape-related materials (paint, stakes, tools, lasers, samples etc.) onsite or to/from the site and in the office. Specifically, during layouts, lifting, carrying and moving can be large parts of the workday.  
• Mobility: Frequent visits to jobsites require being outdoors for extended periods from time-to-time in variable site conditions, and this position will require walking, hiking, kneeling and standing for extended periods of time during the day on varied terrain: dirt, rocks, concrete, grass, wet and dry surfaces, finished and unfinished landscapes and varied ground conditions.  
• Working conditions: Our clients’ projects are across the USA, and therefore this position requires the ability to work outdoors frequently at jobsites in all weather conditions and throughout all seasons: sun, rain, ice, snow, etc., depending on location.  
• Protective Gear:  Requirement to wear clothing for the expected site and weather conditions, including protective clothing and hard-toed boots/shoes (where dictated)