Golf Course Irrigation Technician & Equipment Operator

Responsibilities

• Manage the golf course's automated irrigation system: program scheduling based on evapotranspiration data, soil moisture monitoring, sector-by-sector adjustment for seasonal and weather variation, and system diagnostics for head malfunctions and pipe pressure issues
• Conduct irrigation head maintenance and replacement: popup inspection, nozzle adjustment for coverage pattern, wear assessment, and proactive replacement before the season's peak demand period
• Operate heavy groundskeeping equipment: utility vehicles (Jacobsen, John Deere, Toro), aerators, top-dressers, and large-area rough cutters; maintain equipment service schedules per manufacturer specifications
• Coordinate with the course superintendent on turf stress identification and response: recognize early signs of heat stress, fungal activity, and soil compaction; implement superintendent-directed response protocols
• Manage post-hurricane course rehabilitation operations: the Cancún area experiences named storms on a roughly 5-year cycle that require intensive course recovery work — debris removal, bunker restoration, irrigation pipe inspection, and turfgrass re-establishment
• Maintain the equipment workshop: tool inventory, lubricant and fuel management, blade and component records for each piece of equipment

Requirements

• Golf course irrigation system experience (Rain Bird, Toro, Hunter systems preferred)
• Diesel and gasoline groundskeeping equipment maintenance
• Electrical troubleshooting for irrigation control system faults
• Spanish and functional English for resort operational coordination
• Valid Mexican driver's license for on-course utility vehicle operation

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Uniform and personal protective equipment
• Fixed monthly salary
• Technical training in irrigation systems through equipment supplier programs
• Career advancement to Lead Irrigation Technician and Superintendent Assistant

Work environment

Irrigation system management and equipment operation on an 18-hole resort golf course in the Cancún/Riviera Maya corridor. Technical groundskeeping role combining agronomy, equipment mechanics, and irrigation technology in a tropical Caribbean course environment.

About the role

The irrigation technician who identifies a hidden lateral pipe failure by the slight browning on two fairway panels — and has it repaired and the affected turf recovering before the course superintendent's Monday morning walk — is working with a diagnostic skill set that looks like groundskeeping from the outside but is actually applied hydrology. The course is the medium; the system is the instrument.