Associate Director Technical Services, Beef Genetics

Zoetis•US MI Remote, MI

2d•$145,000 - $220,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Precision Animal Health (PAH) technical services team serves as the interface between beef and dairy genetics R&D, Genetic Evaluation, Marketing, Operations (mostly results reporting), as well as global Sales and strategic commercial and seedstock customers. The successful candidate will have a broad understanding of cattle production, a deep expertise in beef cattle genetic evaluation, as well as an understanding of the principles of selection, breeding, and genetic improvement, while supporting a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders. The beef technical service team supports a fast-paced working environment and rapidly evolving technologies and markets, while supporting global business units. The beef genetics technical service team helps lead the global strategy for product innovation and life-cycle management, while pioneering innovative approaches that collectively define the Precision Animal Health value propositions. These pillars guide strategies across R&D, Sales, Marketing, and Operations. The cattle genetics technical services team leads genetic educational efforts across Zoetis and the external global marketplace – influencing technology adoption by customers while supporting strategic sales and marketing conversations and pioneering novel technology applications to solve emerging customer needs. The genetics technical services team supports the innovation, definition, translation, communication, and defense of precision animal health genetic technologies. Responsibilities of this position span the breadth of genomic products and predictive analytics solutions the technical team supports. Directing strategic solutions with internal and external stakeholders, leading research outcomes; technical review and application; sales and marketing materials, thought leadership; and data analysis to deliver predictive customer solutions.

Requirements

Advanced degree (PhD) in beef cattle breeding and genetics.
10 years’ experience in applied beef genetics technology to seedstock and commercial production systems.
Excellent verbal, written, and presentation communication skills.
Strong time management skills and ability to function effectively in a matrixed work environment.
Ability to manage multiple and complex functions in a dynamic work environment.
Strong analytical skills including use of common genetic / genomic and statistical software packages.
Ability to work in diverse environments and lead cross-functional projects / teams.
Thorough understanding of the use of information, including trait and index predictions, to support genetic improvement strategies in contemporary beef production.
Strong expertise in economic selection index development and related lifecycle management.
Experience in genetic evaluation systems, beef performance record systems., and herd management software.
Experience working with beef seedstock, commercial cow-calf, stocker and feedlot producers and stakeholder organizations.
Ability to travel in support of business and customer needs.

Nice To Haves

Experience in commercial application of precision animal health technologies and adoption preferred.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Vision: Genetics technical services helps guide the vision for value return to customers, through data analysis, innovation, strategy, customer experience and product teams. Additionally, technical service impacts production systems as a thought leaders, globally.
Support and help shape the global strategy and innovation pipeline for beef genetics within precision animal health.
Drive global adoption of genomic technologies and predictive solutions.
Collaborate with global key opinion leaders to direct Zoetis Precision Animal Health innovation and strategy.
Provide critical thought leadership and technical support for emerging opportunities to incorporate genetic improvement into sustainability metrics.
Drive technical elements of new product implementation and product revisions in global markets and in collaboration with strategic commercial partners.
Direct the development, quantification and reporting of genomic sustainability metrics.
Develop technical and applied educational materials for global audiences.
Author and contribute to the formal review of beef genetics technical, educational, and marketing materials.
Deliver thought leadership and training presentations to Zoetis colleagues, commercial partners, KOL’s, and global beef industry audiences.
Commercial Impact: Technical services is responsible for monitoring and sometimes helping with troubleshooting weekly and monthly proprietary genetic evaluations, developing value propositions and supporting evidence to drive mainstream adoption of precision animal health technology.
Technical service colleagues are also the expert support to large, complex customers/strategic accounts, differentiating Zoetis’ expertise.
Lead economic and production index development and lifecycle management for global markets to help simplify selection, breeding, marketing, and other decisions.
Consultative selling and support for strategic customers to drive global adoption of precision animal health solutions.
Opportunistically, design, organize and execute studies to authenticate and report the efficacy of trait and economic index predictions – as well as associated value propositions for genetics customers.
Support design and life cycle evolution of precision animal health genetic product profiles.
Develop decision support tools and innovative algorithms to simplify technology adoption by customers.
Develop strategies and statistical models for trait definitions, parameter estimation, genetic evaluation, internal and external validations.
Support evolution of monthly INHERIT Insights reports to communicate genetic benchmarks to customers.
Organizational Leadership and Development: Genetics education across the Zoetis organization is driven by technical services, multiplying colleague expertise and customer interactions across PAH and global commercial teams.
Provide analytical support for leadership, commercial genetic evaluation, sales, marketing, operations, product management, and customer experience teams globally.
Identify and direct beef genetic strategic partners in collaboration with the Zoetis commercial genetic evaluation, R&D, and customer experience teams.
Collaborate with R&D and industry partners to capture phenotypes, design and execute studies for product innovation, evaluation, and efficacy.
Direct marketing and curriculum development for internal and external stakeholders.