Trialing and Product Placement Lead - México

Syngenta Group

15h•Onsite

About The Position

Syngenta’s R&D - Development team, supporting the Vegetables Seeds business, is seeking a Trialling and Product Placement Lead in Culiacán, México. This role is responsible for leading a team that drives the end-to-end execution of R&D trials to evaluate experimental seed varieties/hybrids, ensuring high-quality trialing processes and product characterization aligned with Target Product Profile (TPP). The lead will oversee data collection using digital technologies, product placement scientist contributions, and the continuous elevation of trialing teams' skillsets in new technologies. Responsibilities include operational planning, budget allocation, KPI monitoring, and communicating product placement insights to marketing and sales teams. The role also involves managing third-party contracts, ensuring safe operations of seed research equipment, and leading HSE and Stewardship practices.

Requirements

PhD or MS in Horticulture, Agronomy, Crop Science, Plant Breeding, Plant Genetics or a related field, or relevant crop related work experiences.
Minimum of 5 years’ experience in seed industry after PhD or 7+ years after MS.
Experience in plant variety trialing.
Fluency in English (oral and written).
Demonstrated experience in people leadership and stakeholder management.
Skill in effective communication for planning with internal and external stakeholders, and for summarizing experimental results to support conclusions and recommendations.
Knowledge of statistics programs (Python, SQL, R Software).
Willingness to travel, with frequency changing through the year based on crop season. During main trialing season travel could be ~50-70%.

Nice To Haves

Extensive experience in commercial breeding, product development and characterization.
Knowledge of agronomy and growing techniques.
Experience in working with growers and related companies or functions in the crop production or value chain.
Knowledge about plant breeding and genetics.
Understanding the vegetable market and crop specifications.

Responsibilities

Lead team that drives end-to-end execution of R&D trials to evaluate the performance of experimental seed varieties/hybrids.
Ensure high quality trialing process across all activities from sowing to harvest.
Oversee high-quality product characterization aligned with Target Product Profile (TPP) through data collection using digital technologies and timely data capture in IT systems.
Oversee product placement scientist contributions to product advancement and placement.
Continuously elevate skillset of trialing teams on new phenotyping technologies and digital tools to increase data accuracy and data collection efficiency.
Responsible for timely deployment and broad adoption of new technologies.
Ensure operational planning and tracking, accurate budget allocation and forecast to contribute to effective resource allocation.
Monitor trialing operations KPIs and lead continuous improvement of trialing process and trial network optimization.
Play key role towards effectively communicating product placement insights and product knowledge to marketing and sales teams.
Scout and manage third-party contracts and/or agreements to ensure optimal trial management and trialing locations.
Accountable for safe operations and maintenance of seed research equipment for mechanical planting, automated harvest and beyond (depending on teams’ crop responsibilities).
Lead all HSE (Health, Safety, & Environment) and Stewardship practices and ensure compliance with all company policies.