What we look for
- Direct operation of truck-mounted boom pumps, trailer/line pumps or static pumps.
- Siting the pump safely — assessing ground bearing capacity, deploying outriggers on mats, checking overhead services and exclusion zones, planning boom reach and access to the pour.
- Controlling delivery rate accurately to the pour, priming, recognising and clearing blockages safely, managing pipeline/hose wear, and correct washout and clean-down.
- Excavator and plant work alongside the pumping — useful if you have it, and worth listing with the machine sizes and any plant tickets or CE licence. The placeable role here is the pump operation itself.
- Pre-start and daily machine checks, greasing, hydraulic and wear-part inspection, and reporting a fault before it becomes a breakdown.
- Experienced on live construction sites — works to method statements, coordinates with the pour gang, truck mixers and site management, and works safely around crews, vehicles and equipment.
Questions you'll be asked
These are the questions the application form asks. You do not need to answer yes to every one — they tell us where your experience actually sits.
- How many years' experience do you have operating concrete pumps
- What types of concrete pumps have you operated? (e.g. truck-mounted boom pump, trailer/line pump, static pump — include boom length and make if you know it)
- Can you confidently drive and operate an excavator
- What size and type of excavators have you used? (e.g. 3t mini, 13t, 20t tracked, wheeled)
- Do you hold a full truck or articulated driving licence? (EU category CE, or your own country's equivalent — e.g. Brazil category E, India HMV with trailer, Philippines restriction code 8)
- What construction projects have you worked on? (type of project, your role, and roughly when)
- What driving licences and machinery certifications do you hold
Qualifications that help
None of these is essential, and a qualification from any country counts.
- Concrete pump operator ticket (CPCS / NPORS / national equivalent)
- Excavator / 360 operator ticket (CPCS / NPORS / national equivalent)
- Safe Pass or equivalent site safety card
We assess English at around CEFR A2 for this role — enough to follow instructions and raise a problem with the person you work for. That is our own standard, not an Irish legal requirement; there is no English test in the permit rules for this job.
The work permit
This role is eligible for an Irish employment permit. The job normally has to pass a 28-day Labour Market Needs Test — the employer runs that, advertising the role with JobsIreland/EURES and on a second jobs platform for 28 unbroken days. Either you or the employer can be named as the applicant on the permit itself; on our placements it is the employer. Either way the cost is not yours to carry: under section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 an employer cannot take the permit fee, recruitment costs, or travel money they have already paid you out of your wages, or ask you to pay any of it back. Doing that is a criminal offence.
Salary thresholds and any quota are set per occupation and move during the year, so we confirm the current position for your exact role with DETE before an employer advertises — rather than quote you a figure here that could be out of date by the time you read it.
How long it takes
From an employer offering the job to you starting work, in our experience the realistic timeline is 6 to 8 months if you need an entry visa — the Philippines, for example. From a country that does not need an entry visa, such as Brazil, allow about 4 to 5 months. That covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE permit processing, the visa and travel. DETE processes applications in date order and publishes its current dates; we do not quote a figure that could be out of date by the time you read it.
If you are already living in Ireland on a permit, the position is different — tell us on the form and we will explain where you stand.
Apply
The application takes about ten minutes. You will be asked about your experience, and you can upload a CV and record a short voice clip so we can put you forward properly.