R&D Scientist (CCA)

About the role

The R&D Scientist plays a crucial role in the R&D team of Wonderful Orchards, focusing on validating and creating farming innovations. This position involves implementing daily, seasonal, and yearly technical and research tasks, often requiring remote work.

Responsibilities

• Establish and implement initiatives with supervision of the Director of Research.
• Coordinate and conduct applied agricultural field and laboratory experiments while supporting numerous sequential and overlapping activities.
• Enhance the robustness of experimental activities through continuous vigilance for precision and accuracy of tasks, including trial design, data analysis, and reporting of results.
• Engage in Wonderful’s corporate culture, participating in organizational and individual activities that deliver on principles of a growth mindset for success.
• Oversee activities by skilled internal (interns, work crews) and external (academic or vendor) personnel, under field and/or lab sites.
• Interact and collaborate with public (academic) and private (vendor) technical experts to explore existing and future farming improvements.
• Create budgets as well as cost tracking for applied field and lab experiments.
• Provide technical consultation to Farming Directors, Crop Managers, Pest Control Advisors, Spray Operations, Irrigation Managers, and field personnel.
• Seek out and implement opportunities to improve workplace efficiency and safety.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Master’s Degree (with research thesis) in field of Plant Science, Crop Science, or Agricultural Sciences AND 4 years of post-degree agricultural research experience OR Bachelor’s Degree in field of Plant Science, Crop Science, or Agricultural Sciences AND 8 years of post-degree agricultural research experience.
• Direct research experience with Wonderful Orchards crops is preferred but not required.
• Track record of identification and testing of improvements, with successful implementation / commercialization resulting in business impact.
• Multi-year / multi-crop experience with trial design, implementation, data collection.
• Statistical analysis using SPSS, RStudio or Excel Data Analysis Toolpak.
• Innovation-oriented, seeking to address current and future challenges with inquisitiveness and dedication to detail.
• Customer-oriented focus, serving the needs of farming operations as an adjunct member of farming teams.
• Digitally proficient, prepared for paperless work environment.
• Understanding of public and private ag research landscape.
• A team player, flexible, consistent, and reliable, able to work with minimal supervision.
• Ability to communicate effectively both in writing and orally for justifying innovative change to various audiences (executives, farm management teams, farming personnel).
• Knowledge and experience with horticultural crop farming, with preference on orchards or permanent crops under scientific studies.
• Previous experience relating to conducting scientific studies with grower / farmer cooperators.
• Ability to have safety, productivity, and attention to detail as daily objectives.
• Assess changing workplace conditions and confidently make adjustments within the context of assigned tasks.
• Prior experience with budget estimates and cost tracking for field scientific studies.

Pay

$92,000 to $105,000. Final compensation will be dependent upon skills & experience.