Careers · Pest control jobs
Working at Nightshift
This page describes the job rather than sells it. A lot of the work is at night, in buildings that cannot close, and it is a practical trade that takes a few years to get genuinely good at. If that sounds like you, we would like to hear from you.
Good technicians are harder to find than good work.
Nightshift has been working in pest control for 45 years, and finding good technicians is harder than finding good work. So this page tries to describe the job honestly rather than sell it, on the theory that the people who suit it will recognise it and the people who do not will save themselves a month.
We are a commercial-first company. The bulk of the work is in London and the South East, in buildings that cannot close: hotels and restaurants, cinemas, office blocks, NHS hospitals, housing associations and universities, alongside airports, ports, food production and local authority estates.
What this page does not do
- Quote a salary. Pay depends on the role and your experience, and it is discussed properly at interview rather than advertised as a range.
- List invented benefits. What is on offer is set out honestly when we talk, not decorated here.
- Advertise roles that are not open. Email us and we will tell you what the position actually is.
The work itself
What the job is actually like.
Six things that are true about pest control here, including the ones that put people off. It is better for everyone that you know them now.
A lot of it is night work
It is in the name. Out-of-hours is the standard shift here rather than an occasional call-out, because most of our clients cannot be treated during trading hours. That means finishing a hotel corridor at four in the morning, working a kitchen after close, and being off site before the first delivery arrives. Some people find that suits their life better than a nine to five. Others find after six months that it does not, and it is much better to know that about yourself before you start.
You work alone, but you are not on your own
Most visits are a single technician in somebody else's building, making judgement calls without a supervisor standing next to you. The support is real, though: where a site problem is not resolving it escalates to a BPCA Qualified Technical Inspector rather than to a scheduler, and technical standards here are advised by a past President of the British Pest Control Association.
It is a practical trade, not a spraying job
The treatment is the easy half. The work that ends a problem is finding how they are getting in and what is feeding them: drains, service penetrations, air bricks, roof junctions, waste routes, a gap behind a fridge nobody has moved in two years. You will spend a lot of time in roof voids, cellars, plant rooms and bin stores, on your hands and knees with a torch.
You are the company, on someone else's premises
You will be in five-star hotels, hospital wards, food factories and government buildings, often alone and often overnight. How you carry yourself in front of a night manager or a duty nurse matters as much as the treatment. Technicians are DBS checked before deployment, and some of our work requires security clearance beyond that.
The paperwork is part of the job
Every visit closes with a written report issued the same day. It is the evidence an Environmental Health Officer, a landlord or a head office reads, and a good technician who writes vague reports creates problems for the client months later. If writing things down clearly is not for you, this is not the trade.
The clients remember you
Retained sites see the same technician month after month. Over a couple of years you learn a building properly, which is when the work gets genuinely interesting: you stop reacting to sightings and start predicting where the pressure will come from next.
Who does well at it
The people who last.
Experience helps and can be taught. Temperament is the part that decides whether somebody is still enjoying this in three years.
You are practical, and you would rather solve a problem than tidy up after it.
You are comfortable working nights, and honest with yourself about whether you can sustain it.
You are presentable and calm with people, because you will be dealing with managers on their worst day of the month.
You are methodical about records, because the report is the deliverable as much as the treatment is.
You are not squeamish, and you can get into a loft, a cellar or a duct without complaint.
You would rather say "I do not know yet, I will find out" than guess in front of a client.
Qualifications & progression
Where the trade can take you.
Pest control has a proper qualification ladder, and it is one of the few remaining trades where you can start with no experience and end up a recognised technical authority.
Starting out
Nobody arrives qualified. The recognised entry route in this industry is the RSPH/BPCA Level 2 Award in Pest Management, taken alongside supervised field work rather than instead of it. Trainees work with experienced technicians until they can be trusted alone in a client's building, which takes as long as it takes.
Working technician
Once qualified you carry your own sites and your own reactive work. This is the point at which the trade starts paying you back: you know your buildings, you are trusted out of hours, and the range of premises you get into is far wider than most trades ever see.
Advanced and specialist
The BPCA Level 3 Advanced Technician qualification, and beyond it Qualified Technical Inspector, are the recognised steps up. Both are held by people here. There are also genuine specialisms in this business rather than only in the industry generally: canine bed bug detection with our own dogs and handlers, falconry and bird deterrent installation at height, and timber, woodworm and damp work going back over 40 years.
Technical and management
Field biology, quality assurance, health and safety and account management are all roles held by people who started on the vans. This is still an industry where the technical ceiling is set by what you are prepared to learn rather than by where you started.
The people already holding those qualifications here are named and checkable on our technical team page, which is a fair way to judge whether the progression described above is real.
The company
Who you would be working for.
45 years, and still independent
Nightshift has been protecting businesses and homes across England for over 45 years. It is part of the Tyro UK group alongside sister companies, and it is not a franchise operation.
One of the largest foot-technician operations in London
More than 60 foot technicians work London zones 1 to 4, believed to be one of the largest such operations in the UK. In practice it means colleagues nearby rather than a lone patch covering three counties.
Standards that are audited, not asserted
BPCA member M15/1628 and CEPA certified to European standard EN 16636, with CHAS, SafeContractor and Constructionline registration. Our HSE Manager is a former CEPA auditor who used to assess other companies against that standard.
An accredited Living Wage employer
Nightshift is an accredited Living Wage employer. Pay for any specific role is discussed properly at interview rather than advertised as a range on a website.
How to apply
Send us an email.
We do not run an online applications system, and we would rather read something you wrote than a form you filled in.
Email the office with where you are based, what you have done, whether you have any pest control qualifications yet, and what hours you are actually available for. If you have no experience at all, say so plainly and tell us what you have done instead. Trainees are how most technicians in this industry start.
We will tell you honestly what is open. If nothing is at the moment, we would rather say so than leave you waiting.
Applications
office@nightshiftpestcontrol.co.ukMark it for the attention of recruitment. Tell us where you are based, what you have done, any qualifications you hold, and the hours you are available for.
The line is answered around the clock, though for a careers enquiry the office hours are the sensible time to call.
5 Linden Close, The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, TN4 8HH
Common questions
Working in pest control, answered.
The questions facilities and operations teams raise most, answered plainly.
Do I need experience or qualifications to apply?
Not to apply. The recognised entry qualification in this industry is the RSPH/BPCA Level 2 Award in Pest Management, and it is normally taken alongside supervised field work rather than before it. If you already hold it, or hold BPCA Level 3, say so. If you hold nothing yet, tell us what you have done instead and why the work appeals.
Is the work really at night?
A great deal of it, yes. Out-of-hours is the standard shift rather than an occasional call-out, because hotels, restaurants, retail, food production and hospitals mostly cannot be treated during trading or clinical hours. Any specific pattern is discussed at interview, but you should apply expecting night work to be a normal part of the job rather than an exception.
Where is the work based?
The bulk of it is London and the South East. Nightshift works nationally through regional technicians, with the office in Tunbridge Wells, but London zones 1 to 4 are where the density is.
What sort of buildings would I be working in?
Hotels and restaurants, cinemas, office blocks, NHS hospitals, housing associations and universities, alongside airports, ports, warehousing, food production, shopping centres and local authority estates. It is a wider range of premises than most trades get inside.
What checks are involved?
All technicians are DBS checked before deployment. Some of the work, including government and airside sites, requires security clearance beyond that, which is arranged where a role needs it.
How do I apply?
Email office@nightshiftpestcontrol.co.uk, or call 01892 871008, which is answered around the clock. Tell us where you are based, what you have done and what hours you are available for. There is no online application system, and a straightforward email is genuinely the right way in.
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