Breeding Data Scientist

Syngenta is a global leader in agriculture; rooted in science and dedicated to bringing plant potential to life. Each of our 30,000 employees in more than 90 countries work together to solve one of humanity's most pressing challenges: growing more food with fewer resources. A diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace environment are enablers of our ambition to be the most collaborative and trusted team in agriculture. Our employees reflect the diversity of our customers, the markets where we operate and the communities which we serve. No matter what your position, you will have a vital role in safely feeding the world and taking care of our planet. Join us and help shape the future of agriculture.

About Us

Through leading innovations, we help farmers around the world meet the challenge of feeding a growing population and taking care of our planet.

We are currently seeking a Breeding Data Scientist for the Analytics & Data Sciences Seeds Development team in Durham, North Carolina.

Role Purpose

At Syngenta, we are the most collaborative and trusted team in agriculture. We provide industry-leading seed technology innovations to enhance the prosperity of farmers globally. We bring plant potential to life!

We seek a Breeding Data Scientist with a passion for applying their population genetics, data science, and analytics skills to transform our Seeds product development pipeline. As a Breeding Data Scientist, you will join a highly impactful, global team of applied Data Scientists who work collaboratively to enrich design, analysis and decision making within seed product development strategies and operational pipelines. The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate an inherent bias to action, passion for delivery, personal accountability, collaborative and technical leadership, continuous development, and strong stakeholder management skills. As a Breeding Data Scientist, you will be highly visible throughout the organization and a crucial contributor within a dedicated Data Science function. You will deliver scaled innovations globally to help accelerate seed development, bringing improved genetics to farmers around the world.

Accountabilities

• Delivers tangible value to stakeholders via the development and business adoption of data products
• Develops and communicates insights that directly inform product development strategy and/or the effectiveness of existing strategies
• Provides analytics and data science leadership and support for regional field crops Seeds Development needs 
• Collaborates with data engineers to leverage Syngenta's unique portfolio of diverse data assets for novel germplasm data pipeline development and scaled business value extraction
• Establishes or enhances best practices and maintains an appropriate level of technical rigor in team operations
• Builds effective partnerships with IT, analytics and data science colleagues, crop subject matter experts, and external experts to continually translate data into business value
• Identifies data needs/gaps and provide recommendations for enhancing the global data strategy
• Serves as a technical domain expert in mid-/large-sized project teams with cross-functional team members and regional or global impact
• Promotes a safe work environment to maintain our strong safety culture

• Ph.D. in data science, plant breeding, population genetics, computational biology, statistics or equivalent
• Technical understanding of commercial plant breeding and germplasm development
• Experience in the application of in mixed-linear models, generalized linear models, machine learning models, or stochastic/mathematical simulation models to product development, genetics or agricultural use cases
• Proven experience using Python and SQL to construct, transform and analyze large datasets and/or generate data models in a cloud compute environment
• Proven experience with data visualization and rapid prototyping tools
• Ability to tell clear and compelling stories with data to stakeholders outside of your technical domain
• Experience leveraging graph databases is a plus

Critical technical, professional and personal capabilities

• A passion for delivering value to customers via data products
• A persistent bias to action
• Objectivity and creativity to discern what customers want, what they need, and what they don't know they need
• Courage to disrupt the status quo by applying a change leadership mindset
• Excellent problem analysis and problem solving
• Highly communicative and open to feedback
• Ability to reduce abstraction and focus on practical business outcomes
• Ability to thrive in an ambiguous and uncertain environment
• Ability to work effectively across disciplines in a global matrix with diverse cultures and skillsets
• Ability to collaborate effectively with internal and external partners

What We Offer:

• Full Benefit Package (Medical, Dental & Vision) that starts the same day you do
• 401k plan with company match, Profit Sharing & Retirement Savings Contribution
• Open Vacation Policy with a minimum of 15 days of vacation and up to 30 days with manager approval, 9 Paid Holidays
• Maternity and Paternity Leave, Education Assistance, Wellness Programs, Corporate Discounts among others
• A culture that promotes work/life balance, celebrates diversity, and offers numerous family-oriented events throughout the year

WL4A

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Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

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