The Senior Agronomist will work within the Global R&D Technology Transfer team reporting the Agronomy manager. The position will be located preferably in Europe or in California, U.S depending on the background and experience of the candidate. The agronomist will be an integral part of the technology transfer team and help support the implementation and adoption of critical agronomy strategic projects by Driscoll’s growers globally wherever high priority projects are identified.
The Senior Agronomist will support the implementation of transformative technical projects within Driscoll’s grower networks, ensuring the necessary and efficient knowledge transfer to the regional agronomy, production and applied research personnel and supporting its successful adoption at the grower level.
Qualifications
• PhD or MSc. in Horticulture, Plant Science or Agronomy with a minimum of 5 years of experience in substrate growing protocols in a range of berry crops.
• Experience with berry crop cultivation in various environments, production systems and growing techniques is key. Proven experience with berry crop management in substrate is imperative.
• Capacity to understand and optimize environmental best practices in a range of growing situations to support Driscoll’s regional strategic geographies is an advantage.
• Additional experience in developing and delivering training programs in horticulture or berry production is preferred
• Candidate must be disciplined, self-motivated and have strong verbal/written communication skills as well as the ability to manage tasks efficiently and to be able to collaborate on projects effectively with others.
• The ability to engage and work in a cross-functional team environment is fundamental
• Curiosity, accuracy, detail orientation, organization, and analytical skills are essential
• Ability to exercise flexibility, initiative, humility, good judgment and discretion.
• Excellent documentation skills to translate field based projects progress
• Sufficient analytical skills to analyze problems in a multi- faceted way and to develop and participate in implementing solution driven outcomes • A valid passport and the ability to travel internationally without restrictions.
Responsibilities:
• Ability to be an integral member of a dynamic team and work collaboratively in projects prioritized by global business units delivering solution driven technical support and outcomes across all Driscoll’s production regions
• Assesses the technical skills of the local agronomy, nursery and production management teams by identifying and supporting training programs to address relevant development needs and leverage the skills and knowledge of the local team members involved
• Supports the design of full crop cycle management practices identified as key projects
• Liaises with the Agronomy Manager to ensure that fast and efficient transfer of information to the local teams and ultimately to the Driscoll’s growers’ network
• Supports the local agronomy teams in successfully executing the crop management plans in the grower production sites
• Ensures measurable progress reporting of all components of the projects on a regular basis, identifies challenges and works with the project team to find solutions
• Engagement in other project areas such as nurseries, assessing the viability and suitability of plant quality for the critical projects incorporating improved nursery outcomes in the crop management plan
• Participates in the assessment of new technologies and growing practices that can highly impact Driscoll’s growing operations
• Promotes key agronomy techniques and growing practices to the regional teams and supports the technology transfer of relevant practices to other regions as required.
General Responsibilities
• Ensures the confidentiality of Driscoll’s financial, proprietary and employee information.
• Represents Driscoll’s in a manner that demonstrates Driscoll’s Mission and Values in all interactions internally and externally.
• Performs other duties as instructed.
• This job description is intended to describe the general nature of the work performed by employees in this job. It is not an exhaustive list of all the job’s responsibilities. At Driscoll’s, all of our jobs include broad responsibilities for continually improving the processes we use to develop our products.