Breeding Technician

PepsiCo • Rhinelander, WI

6d • Onsite

About The Position

PepsiCo is a major food enterprise sourcing a variety of raw materials of agricultural origin such as tuber, grain, and fruit & vegetable crops around the world. A creative, results-oriented breeding technician is required to execute breeding activities primarily across potatoes and oat, with potential of expansion to other crops at a PepsiCo breeding facility in Rhinelander, WI.
This breeding technician is responsible for assisting the breeding programs, leading projects, and working within the breeding programs to drive the improvement of raw agriculture materials important to PepsiCo. This 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 are in greenhouses, large walk-in growth chambers, fields, seed storage units, and occasionally wet chemistry labs.
The position sits in the Agro Raw Materials Discovery function within PepsiCo foods R&D. This position is located at the PepsiCo research facility in Rhinelander, WI and will report to the breeders on site.

Requirements

• Relevant experience in an active breeding/genetics program, agriculture, leading teams, inventory tracking is preferred.
• Exhibit meticulous attention to detail and maintains precise, reliable records; demonstrates consistency and accuracy in completing repetitive or routine tasks; adapts effectively to shifting priorities, fluid schedules, and evolving responsibilities while sustaining high standards of performance.
• 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.
• Demonstrate the ability to distinguish mission‑critical priorities from nonessential tasks; exercises sound judgment in identifying the next most impactful actions; maintains focus on high‑value initiatives while appropriately deferring or eliminating less critical activities.
• Excellent communication and networking ability with the local PepsiCo community and the remote team.
• 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.

Nice To Haves

• B.S. in Plant Breeding, Horticulture, Agronomy, Biological Systems Engineering, Biology, or related discipline.

Responsibilities

• Work with potato and oat breeders, assistant breeders, and other technicians to work in the greenhouses, fields, and phenotyping facilities.
• Work with breeders and assistant breeders to phenotype breeding trials in the field and at the phenotyping facility. This includes in-season phenotyping in the field, performing oats milling and phenotyping operations, raw potato grading at harvest, and chip frying and processing traits.
• Work with breeders and assistant breeders to support field activities including pulling seed, planting, transplanting, seed cutting, sample pulling, roguing, and harvesting, etc. Ensure accurate records are taken and entered in a timely fashion.
• Work with breeders and assistant breeders to support greenhouse and growth room operations including growth area preparation, seed pulling, planting, transplanting, crop maintenance, pathogen testing, tissue sampling, crossing, seed extraction, inventory management, harvest, etc. Ensure accurate and timely data capture, and data upload to PepsiCo’s databases, ensuring the data meets the expected quality standards.
• 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. Support local EHS efforts onsite through the ownership or co-ownership of a safety program, completion of required training, and attendance of all EHS meetings.
• Adapt to unexpected delays and changes in workflows to maintain overall productivity.

Benefits

• The expected compensation range for this position is between $54,700 - $82,050.
• Location, confirmed job-related skills, experience, and education will be considered in setting actual starting salary. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range during the hiring process.
• Paid time off subject to eligibility, including paid parental leave, vacation, sick, and bereavement.
• In addition to salary, PepsiCo offers a comprehensive benefits package to support our employees and their families, subject to elections and eligibility: Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, Health, and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Insurance (Accident, Group Legal, Life), Defined Contribution Retirement Plan.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level