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Dec
30

Sr. Biologist, Weed Scientist


The successful candidate will be responsible for focusing biological efforts on all aspects of herbicide evaluations for crop and non-crop opportunities.  To aid in determining and expanding commercial potential of lead compounds, the individual will utilize existing bioassays, and develop and integrate new assays, to extensively characterize herbicidally-active chemistry against a broad range of weeds within key crop/non-crop segments. The individual will also work with acquisition and project development teams to prioritize compound leads and chemistry testing requirements, and provide input on herbicide opportunity evaluation efforts.  The successful candidate will communicate testing results and project status with scientists, project managers and management throughout the Development and Business/Marketing organizations.  The individual will report directly to the Herbicide Biology Group Leader.

 

Our client is committed to providing employees with ample opportunities to contribute, lead and be recognized as innovators, to look beyond barriers to provide solutions, to be challenged in what they do and to love doing it. Our client is an S&P 500, US based diversified chemical company serving agricultural, industrial and consumer markets globally for more than a 100 years. As a global leader utilizing advanced technologies and customer-focused research and development, providing innovative and cost-effective solutions to food, agriculture, pharmaceutical, specialty and related industries.

 
Responsibilities:
  • Work safely within a team environment in support of herbicide product concept evaluations and development.
  • Champion the evaluation of herbicide products and technologies towards the development, optimization and expansion of crop and specialty use concepts and products.
  • Test herbicide products and concepts in a range of bioassays to characterize activity, residuality, efficacy, and commercial utility.
  • Work independently and within a small team, requiring a minimum of supervision.
  • Create appropriate plans to test experimental hypotheses by identification, planning and organization of resources, including plants, greenhouse space and time requirements.
  • Research, develop, validate and implement new bioassays as required to meet strategic initiatives and tactical testing needs.
  • Constantly review, develop and implement plans and schedules to meet an ever-increasing and flexible testing demand.
  • Effective use of various testing equipment, such as track sprayers and field application implements, to analyze overall performance of experimental herbicide formulations.
  • Review data to ensure quality and consistent results are being produced by established bioassays, perform statistical analysis, and interpret assay results.
  • Prepare and maintain stocks of experimental and commercial herbicides.
  • Collect and summarize data, and deliver results and recommendations as oral and/or written reports as required to R&D scientists and project teams, management, and APG Business/Marketing groups.
  • Liaise with Development, Regulatory, Marketing, area Business and Development personnel as needed on all aspects of herbicide technical support, protocol generation, milestone timelines, and data requirements.
  • Transfer information of herbicide development findings throughout the organization.
  • Maintain complete understanding of all bioassays available for testing including timing, material requirements, assay evaluation, statistical analysis, etc.
  • Develop technical leadership by publishing and presenting appropriate information at scientific meetings, and/or trade organizations.

Required Education:
PhD in Weed Science, Agronomy, or related applied life science with at least 3 years’ experience, or M.S. in Weed Science, Agronomy, or related applied life science and at least 6 years’ experience in an applied herbicide or related applied pesticide academic or industrial R&D program.

 

Qualifications:
  • Strong working knowledge of commercial herbicides and a strategic understanding of agricultural chemical markets.
  • Understanding of economic, competitive, and practical use factors affecting opportunities in herbicide markets.  Working knowledge of current and development herbicide products.
  • Extensive experience in conducting laboratory, greenhouse and field herbicide bioassays against a range of weed species across various crop and non-crop segments.
  • Demonstrated experience in developing and integrating new bioassays to understand activity of herbicide leads and various product concepts.
  • Previous work with, and knowledge of, weed identification and growth stages, weed and crop production techniques, and methods in herbicide screening and advanced testing.
  • An understanding of field translation issues and objectives, and experience in lab to field herbicide translation assays.
  • Experience in optimizing testing workflow for efficient and effective throughput and quality data output.
  • Working knowledge of database systems for recording and displaying bioassay data.
  • Experience in project-based R&D.
  • Previous experience in supervising others in a laboratory environment.
  • Strong customer focus.
  • Understanding of statistics and the ability to utilize statistical analysis on biological data.
  • Effective oral and written communication skills.

 

About the author

jonhasz