DS Group - Manager - Plant Science - Agri

POSITION : Plant Science Manager

BUSINESS : AGRI

Location : Noida

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF POSITION:

Looking for a senior member in the role of Plant Science Manager to oversee research on yield improvement, cost reduction, varietal unlock and use of new technologies to achieve the desired characteristics in a crop

JOB PROFILE:

1. The candidate will be part of a fast-paced start-up like team and will have a chance to work on cutting edge technologies (like hydroponics, aquaponics etc.) for the crops that are new to the Indian agriculture

2. Work closely with the AGRI Business Head & the R&D lead

3. The business aspirations are to create a 500+Cr company with a global footprint within the first 2-3 years of operations and will require an entrepreneurial and dynamic leadership team to take on the mandate for the business build.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES :

- Planning & Strategy :

a. Plan and execute research on unlocking new varietals of the crops planned by the strategy team

b. Advise AGRI Business Head & the R&D lead on the crops to be taken up for R&D

- Deliver best-in-class solutions :

a. Develop agronomical practices that ensure cost and time efficiencies while making sure of high quality output with minimal time and effort required to implement the practices

- IP creation : Apply for patents to generate and protect IP that is permissible as per Indian laws

- Collaboration with other teams and partnership with external bodies :

a. Advise farm ops team on deviant behavior of the crops (like slower than expected growth, off season fall of leaves etc.)

b. Collaborate with farm operations team to train ground staff on new approved practices

c. Collaborate with IT team to prepare best-in-class tools to record, analyze and report the developments and outputs of the trials

d. Partner with research teams of vendors for new age technologies to run trials

e. Liaison with government bodies like ICAR and leading agricultural universities and be aware of latest agronomical developments

REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE :

1. 8-10 years of work experience in R&D team of an AGRI company - seeds, chemicals, farming, processing etc. - in India or globally

2. Proven track record of managing multiple R&D initiatives across multiple crops

3. Awareness of Indian AGRI landscape - weather, soil, varietals with an added advantage for the experience with new AGRI technologies (like hydroponics) etc.

4. Preference to be given to candidates with proven track record of having unlocked premium varietals for agriculture companies

5. Comfortable with travelling across farm sites

EDUCATION : PG and above in AGRI science from tier 1 institutes (IISc, ICAR, GBPU etc in India and others abroad)