LATAM Variety Trialing Sector Lead

PepsiCo

1d•Onsite

About The Position

PepsiCo is a major food enterprise sourcing a variety of plant raw materials, including potato, small grains, corn, and various fruit and vegetable crops. An experienced variety and agronomic assessment scientist is required to lead and develop PepsiCo’s variety development efforts in potato. Responsibilities include providing recommendations for best agronomic and agrotechnology practices to ensure high performing and quality potatoes for supply chain continuity. The lead is responsible for understanding sector needs from procurement, supply chain, processing and growers. Through leveraging external network as well as collaboration and strategy experience, the candidate will develop internal research projects and external partnerships to target best varieties to support PepsiCo’s sustainable agriculture goals and address business challenges in productivity, raw material quality, food safety, and supply chain resilience. They will work in a multi-disciplinary team complementing PepsiCo’s genetics, breeding, systems biology, agronomy, and sustainability activities. This position is within the Ag Science Division of the Research and Development organization. The candidate will lead a team responsible for setting the strategy and developing key market objectives for Mexico, Central America and South America. This individual will be responsible for understanding commercial needs, to create a robust variety development and advancement pipeline as it aligns with the business’s trait and germplasm priorities. They will collaborate closely with internal and external potato breeders to develop and select varieties meeting specific country needs for the Lay’s brand. The lead will facilitate coordination across the LATAM team to support development and implementation of performance and quality testing programs to capture environmental data, phenotype data and define experimental designs supporting robust decisions, strengthen go-to-market messages and inform breeding models. This role will collaborate with senior business leaders in commercial, supply chain, procurement, processing, and consumer market insights to understand needs and develop strategies to ensure a pipeline of business relevant solutions.

Requirements

BS in Agronomy, Horticulture, Plant Science, Soil Science or related discipline with 15 years of experience
Experience in vegetable, fruit and/or grain crops, potato or solanacae experience preferred.
Understanding of plant breeding and crop/agricultural production practices used by LATAM growers in raw material production
Expertise in agricultural seed and chemistry operations, trait development, validation, regulatory and commercialization
Collaborative and communication skills for both technical and non-technical environments.
Ability to prioritize and adapt quickly while balancing scientific excellence aligned with business goals.
An advanced degree with 5+ years of experience or a BS with 15+ years of experience in an agricultural seed and chemical company with plot trial experience, crop trait valuation, strategic needs assessment, trait/variety portfolio management, commercial agronomy and/or technology development of new variety solutions
Previous experience leading a team of scientists executing/managing trials working to support development and implementation of performance and quality testing programs to capture environmental data, phenotype data and define experimental designs that support robust decisions, strengthen go-to-market message and inform breeding models.
Knowledge of variety import, trialing, and IP protection laws to help guide the team in processes for new variety and agrotechnology assessment.
Previous experience in negotiating with 3rd parties proprietary access to varieties, agricultural technology solutions, practices for PepsiCo use
Possess relevant experience in crop yield trialing (preferably potato or vegetables), high throughput phenotyping, crop modelling, crop management and experimental designs.
Strategy development of region specific product needs for new variety and agronomic solutions to deliver product specifications.
Experience in leadership and understanding of brand management, sales and market analysis.
Specialized knowledge of variety testing, statistical experimental design, field plot technique, statistical data analysis, interpretation and reporting is required.
Experience in budget and personnel management is required.
Possess excellent communication skills, verbal and written; ability to productively interact with people at all levels across the organization.
Fluent in English and Spanish or Portuguese
Ability to travel ~20% of the time primarily across Mexico, Central America and South America.
This position is limited to persons with indefinite right to work in the United States

Nice To Haves

potato or solanacae experience preferred
An advanced degree with 5+ years of experience

Responsibilities

Leading the LATAM R&D Trialing and Development organization to create and select varieties that meet the business defined product profiles.
Creating a phenotyping and yield trial program that supports commercial decisions, delivers data to the global breeding organization, and facilitates go-to-market value propositions, delivering on grower needs as well as sustainability and consumer targets.
Developing collaborative relationships with internal partners including the breeding team, trait discovery team, and variety specific agronomy crop technology team.
Supporting the development of product profiles with input from the processing, quality, sensory, business, supply chain, procurement teams and PepsiCo growers.
Develop key relationships with external breeding companies to leverage their pipeline of variety solutions and incorporate them into the PepsiCo trialing program by conducting head-to-head comparisons.
Identify viable new variety candidates that deliver advantage to country specific Lay’s Chips brand proposition.
Collaborate with R&D sector leads, business unit GMs, supply chain VPs/directors, and R&D research teams to understand regions specific needs/opportunities both short- and long-term.
Develop strategic plans to fill short-term variety pipeline gaps/needs and provide variety profile needs to breeding and crop technology teams forecasting future needs/solutions.
Lead cross organization variety review and advancement meetings leading all parties to aligned decisions on commercialization, agricultural technology solutions, and best IPM (integrated pest management) strategies.
Guide the team in transferring optimal production practices to Supply Chain/Procurement teams and growers to deliver best in class experience with newly launched varieties.
Engage staff in their personal development and fulfillment of goals, ensuring each has the skills needed for success in their roles and continued growth, while continuously evaluating their fit in their position, their desire and training to accomplish tasks safely, and the resources required to help them achieve their goals
Lead process improvements, that work to achieve more with less, or more expeditiously and generating optimum processes that enable team/business needs.
Develop a culture of safe practices and full implementation of safety guidelines/training.
Align and track resources, people, and work objectives, that stretch goals to always achieve more, while creating value and future growth of team members.
Achieve successful outcomes and timelines, while consistently following guidelines, rules, standards, and compliance.
Monitor and track desired outcomes and objectives preparing for future challenges