Agricultural Science Technician

PepsiCo•Rhinelander, WI

1d•Onsite

About The Position

PepsiCo is seeking a creative, results-oriented Agricultural Science Technician to execute breeding activities primarily across potatoes and oats, with potential for expansion to other crops at a PepsiCo breeding facility in Rhinelander, WI. This role is responsible for assisting breeding programs, leading projects, and working within the programs to drive the improvement of raw agricultural materials important to PepsiCo. The position will work closely with existing assistant breeders to execute breeding operations as set by the manager, but is also expected to make independent decisions to meet project objectives. Breeding operations take place in greenhouses, large walk-in growth chambers, fields, and a phenotyping building. This position is part of the Agricultural Science function within PepsiCo Foods R&D and reports to the breeders on site.

Requirements

BS preferred in Plant Breeding, Horticulture, Agronomy, Biological Systems Engineering, Biology, or related discipline.
Relevant experience in an active breeding/genetics program, agriculture, leading teams, data analysis, or inventory tracking is preferred, but all qualified applicants will be considered.
Attention to details and accurate record keeping.
Ability to organize projects, lead teams, keep people motivated, and drive for results in any situation.
Demonstrated experience in collecting data from plants and curating them for consistency and quality prior to uploading in company databases required.
Demonstrated ability to manage activities within assigned resources/budgets.
Can quickly separate the mission-critical from the nice to dos and the trivial; quickly senses what's the next most useful thing to work on; focuses on the critical few tasks that really add value and puts aside or delays the rest.
Excellent communication and networking ability with the local PepsiCo community and the remote team.
Excellent ability to utilize basic software and communication technologies such as Word, Excel, Power Point, Teams, Outlook, etc., and to input or query data from relational databases.
A proven ability to work closely with colleagues on activities with a high degree of flexibility and comfort with change.
Ability to be an ambassador of change and to build consensus among others who can enable activities and projects at the local facility.
Ability to balance the need to deliver on time, on target, within resources, and with expected quality and quantity.
This position will be based in Rhinelander, WI and must be willing to travel occasionally to off-site experiment locations.
Must be willing to travel 10-15% of the time primarily in North America, by land or air.
Must be willing to flex work schedule to accommodate video and phone conferences across multiple time-zones as an alternative to travel.
Must be able to operate in hot and wet/dry environments such as greenhouses and walk-in growth chambers, to work with plants, soil, and agricultural/science equipment, and to lift safely up to 50 LBS of weight.

Responsibilities

Work with oat breeders, assistant breeders, and other technicians in greenhouses, growth rooms, fields, and phenotyping facilities.
Support phenotyping activities in breeding trials and research nurseries, including in-season field data collection, operating UAVs, raw potato grading at harvest, oat milling and grain quality assessments, and processing trait evaluations.
Support field activities including seed packaging, planting, sampling, harvesting, organizing breeding materials, and preparing materials for shipment.
Ensure accurate records are taken and entered in a timely fashion.
Support greenhouse and growth room operations including growth area preparation, seed pulling, planting, crop maintenance, pathogen testing, crossing, seed extraction, inventory management, and harvest activities.
Utilize barcoding and inventory software to track and store seed, tuber, plant, and seed samples.
Monitor, troubleshoot, and promptly report challenges with breeding operations while proactively identifying potential solutions.
Continuously identify opportunities for improving efficiency and quality of breeding operations, including efficiencies in processes, techniques, and flow.
Comply with local EHS requirements, including but not limited to prevention, incident reporting, and remedial actions.
Adapt to unexpected delays and changes in workflows to maintain overall productivity.