What does a Landscape Architect do?

Plan and design land areas for projects such as parks and other recreational facilities, airports, highways, hospitals, schools, land subdivisions, and commercial, industrial, and residential sites. Day to day that includes work like prepare graphic representations or drawings of proposed plans or designs and Confer with clients, engineering personnel, or architects on landscape projects.

What skills should a Landscape Architect put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Coordination, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Landscape Architect list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe FreeHand MX, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Landscape Architect work?

O*NET records 19 titles for this occupation, including Golf Course Architect, Land Planner, Landscape Planner, and AP BD+C. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Landscape Architect need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 68% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Landscape Architect role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Landscape Architect resume example

A resume for a Landscape Architect needs to show the work itself: plan and design land areas for projects such as parks and other recreational facilities, airports, highways, hospitals, schools, land subdivisions, and commercial, industrial, and residential sites. Day to day that means work like this: prepare graphic representations or drawings of proposed plans or designs; confer with clients, engineering personnel, or architects on landscape projects. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Golf Course Architect
Land Planner
Landscape Planner
AP BD+C
Landscape Designer
Park Planner
Planner
Professional Landscape Architect
PLA
Environmental Designer
Environmental Planner
Exterior Designer
Golf Course Designer
Indoor Landscape Architect
Landscape Architectural Designer
Landscape Engineer
Outdoor Landscape Architect
Site Planner

O*NET records 19 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

AP BD+C (Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction)
Landscape Architect
Professional Landscape Architect (PLA)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Prepare graphic representations or drawings of proposed plans or designs.
Confer with clients, engineering personnel, or architects on landscape projects.
Integrate existing land features or landscaping into designs.
Inspect landscape work to ensure compliance with specifications, evaluate quality of materials or work, or advise clients or construction personnel.
Analyze data on conditions such as site location, drainage, or structure location for environmental reports or landscaping plans.
Develop marketing materials, proposals, or presentations to generate new work opportunities.
Manage the work of subcontractors to ensure quality control.
Present project plans or designs to public stakeholders, such as government agencies or community groups.
Prepare site plans, specifications, or cost estimates for land development.
Create landscapes that minimize water consumption such as by incorporating drought-resistant grasses or indigenous plants.
Develop planting plans to help clients garden productively or to achieve particular aesthetic effects.
Collaborate with estimators to cost projects, create project plans, or coordinate bids from landscaping contractors.

19 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Prepare graphic representations or drawings of proposed plans or designs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Confer with clients, engineering personnel, or architects on landscape projects, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Integrate existing land features or landscaping into designs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect landscape work to ensure compliance with specifications, evaluate quality of materials or work, or advise clients or construction personnel, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe FreeHand MX
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
Autodesk Revit
Bentley MicroStation
Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite
Coyote Software DynaSCAPE Design
Desktop publishing software

28 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Computer scanners
Desktop computers
Digital camcorders
Digital cameras
Global positioning system GPS receivers
Laptop computers
Personal computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
create maps

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Reading Comprehension
03Complex Problem Solving
04Coordination
05Critical Thinking
06Speaking
07Active Learning
08Judgment and Decision Making
09Social Perceptiveness
10Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Design
Building and Construction
Public Safety and Security
English Language
Engineering and Technology
Customer and Personal Service
Law and Government
Computers and Electronics

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

68%Bachelor's Degree
18%Master's Degree
11%First Professional Degree, awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Landscape Architect do?: Plan and design land areas for projects such as parks and other recreational facilities, airports, highways, hospitals, schools, land subdivisions, and commercial, industrial, and residential sites. Day to day that includes work like prepare graphic representations or drawings of proposed plans or designs and Confer with clients, engineering personnel, or architects on landscape projects.
What skills should a Landscape Architect put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Coordination, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Landscape Architect list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe FreeHand MX, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Landscape Architect work?: O*NET records 19 titles for this occupation, including Golf Course Architect, Land Planner, Landscape Planner, and AP BD+C. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Landscape Architect need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 68% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Landscape Architect role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.