Sr. Scientist - Agricultural Chemistry/Plant Toxicology (REMOTE)

About the role

This is a remote, ongoing contract position supporting the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). As a SETA contractor, you will collaborate with the ARPA-H Program Manager and team to effectuate bold research initiatives, supporting the development, funding, and management of new and existing R&D programs. You will support programs in topics pertaining to molecular discovery of next generation herbicides and related treatments to maintain high crop productivity while minimizing the impact on human health.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to a multidisciplinary team developing breakthrough technologies for: molecular discovery of next generation herbicides and related treatments to maintain high crop productivity while minimizing the impact on human health, monitoring agricultural chemicals in and around farms, novel economically sustainable weed control methods, and next generation non-contact chemical analysis tools for medical products.
• Provide subject matter expertise on plant toxicology, with emphasis on herbicide mechanisms of action, phytotoxicity, molecular markers of effectiveness, and the fate of agrochemicals in ecological systems, soil, and water.
• Evaluate technical proposals for scientific merit and innovation; provide feedback, organize reviewer comments, draft recommendations and project summaries, and presentation materials.
• Perform market and regulatory analyses, technical due diligence, literature reviews, and generate briefing documents summarizing technical topics related to the interplay between farming practices, agricultural chemicals, soil health, worker safety, and consumer health, and various types of spectrometry and other non-contact chemical analysis of drugs and other medical products for quality and safety.
• Develop technical and administrative programmatic documentation on short timelines to communicate technical approach, progress, cost, schedule and risk for advanced technology development efforts.
• Assist, support, and provide advice to the Program Manager to further the development and progress of new and existing programs.
• Conduct thorough technical scientific evaluation of the current R&D landscape to identify gaps in research portfolios and address critical needs that are aligned with the ARPA-H mission.
• Monitor and track performers' progress toward established metrics.
• Read and digest complex information and develop team and executive level briefings for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Integrate into an existing team to support current ARPA-H efforts and operate independently and in a group environment in support of technical R&D efforts.
• Perform basic administrative tasks such as collecting, sorting, analyzing, and writing internal programmatic reports/briefings on relevant topics in a health-related field.
• Some CONUS travel is expected (~10-20%) as needed to fully support the Program Manager and Program.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in a related field with 2+ years of experience is preferred; MS in a related field with 5+ years of experience or a BA in a related field with 7+ years of experience is acceptable.
• Experience in plant toxicology and/or agricultural chemistry, analytical chemical methods, spectroscopy techniques, and molecular biology methods.
• Experience in the development and/or evaluation of analytical chemistry methods for agricultural applications; field-deployable sensing platforms; biosensor-based detection systems; and spectroscopic or chromatographic techniques.
• Familiarity with industry leaders and disrupters in AI-enabled and high-throughput methods of herbicide development, including biological herbicides; precision agriculture technologies; agrochemical remediation; and chemical sensing and detection.
• Experience coordinating independent verification and validation, and previous experience managing programs with cooperative agreements, Other Transaction (OT) awards, milestone-based contracts, FFRDCs, interagency efforts, and commercialization efforts.
• Strong PowerPoint and Excel skills, which include proficiency with keyboard shortcuts and ability to create PPT slides and Excel files on the fly during a meeting in a high-pressure environment.
• Professional curiosity, continuous drive for learning, and the ability to focus on assigned tasks.
• Ability to communicate complex scientific ideas to broad audiences, digest basic and applied research across areas of biotechnology and apply to health capability gaps, and demonstrate a willingness to explore the scientific literature for emerging biotechnology.
• Team oriented with exceptional communication, writing, and organizational skills.
• Must be able to obtain a federal government Public Trust clearance.
• Must be a US Citizen or Permanent Resident.

Desired Skills

• Familiarity with USDA and EPA regulated agricultural technologies and policies and intersections with FDA on biotechnology.
• Expertise anticipating and mitigating ethical, legal, and societal implications of high-profile research efforts.
• Prior experience supporting ARPA-like programs (e.g., DARPA, IARPA, APRA-E) or U.S. DoD advanced development programs.
• Prior support to executives managing large budget programs in an R&D environment.