Director of Variety Deployment

Overview
PepsiCo is a major food enterprise sourcing a variety of plant raw materials, including potato, small grains, corn, and various fruit and vegetable crops. At Pepsico, we continue to deliver smiles to consumers through advantaged raw materials that meet consumer wants, internal processing and quality standards and that are produced sustainably. An experienced agriculture variety trialing and development lead is required to develop and execute PepsiCo's R&D global sector new variety trialing capabilities/programs and support variety development efforts in potato, oat, and other crops. Through internal research projects and external partnerships, this person will deliver knowledge and insights on target crops 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, global office of agriculture and sustainability teams. Ideal candidates would have a strong understanding of the agriculture industry and have prior leadership experience. You must be a proven leader able to motivate and lead employees to accomplish goals.
Responsibilities
This position sits in the Ag Science Division of the Research and Development Foods Division at Pepsico and is responsible for

• Leading a team to responsible for developing global tools, metrics and processes necessary for over 30 trialing experts and agronomists to support the strategy for field trials, knowledge transfer, product support, and data analytics to deliver data driven solutions to commercial teams and farmers around the world
• Development and execution of the product pipeline development based on company's overall business goals, market dynamics and trends, whilst managing the current portfolio of products
• Develop products by identifying potential products both internally and externally, coordinate product testing, determining product requirements and specifications, and time-integrated plans for product introduction
• Responsible for the product planning and execution throughout the product lifecycle, including gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, and working closely with research, development, and commercial teams to ensure goals are met. Help develop new ideas based on contacts with current and prospective customers
• Build and Lead ~ 30-50 person variety trialing and agronomy network across multiple global locations
• Oversee agronomy trialing operations at multiple locations
• Direct operations according to divisional objectives to determine variety and practices/ag technology fit to market
• Manage Location Managers on variety trialing, product qualification, commercial data package generation, variety transition to commercial teams and overall strategy
• Develop and manage operating, capital, and lease budgets
• Provide life cycle and assortment management recommendations to the regional market manager and area crop manager
• Develop technical product positioning recommendations with regional teams and coordinate communication

Pipeline Management: Manage product life cycle and range with the objective of optimizing turnover and margin, through supply chain expectations, sales potential evaluation and product pricing guidance

• Lead cross-functional product advancement teams and collaborate with the commercial teams to manage new product introductions in accordance with the product features, advantages and benefits, the strengths and weaknesses of existing product range, seed inventory, and competitive landscape

Product Development

• Ensure growth with innovation, by developing new concepts and new products with value-added traits in collaboration with breeders, development & sales teams
• Coordinate product testing and sample distribution with the global commercial teams
• Manage Location Managers on trialing execution, data collection, data package generation supporting new variety commercial advancement and overall strategy
• Develop and manage operating, capital, and lease budgets
• Oversee and ensure inventory is in place and accurately accounted for
• Assist in developing a centralized dispatching approach for rolling stock (floaters, sprayers and semis)
• Research, analyze, and monitor market opportunities and minimize effects of competitive activity
• Establish and maintain relationships with key industry and strategic community partners
• Maintain and promote a strong safety culture and follow all safety policies, procedures and regulations
• Develop a group strategy and implementation plan and ensure alignment to Platform strategy, plan, and priorities
• Negotiate with external parties to deliver cost effective programs and secure proprietary positions for PepsiCo. Maintain all confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements regarding scientific research
• Represent PepsiCo in external cooperative consortia and government research/grant working groups around crop pathology and disease management as requested

Compensation & Benefits:

• The expected compensation range for this position is between $122,300 - $242,700 based on a full-time schedule
• Location, confirmed job-related skills and experience will be considered in setting actual starting salary
• Bonus based on performance and eligibility; target payout is 25% of annual salary paid out annually
• And an additional target payout of 10% of annual salary is paid out over 3 years following the end of the performance period
• Long term incentive equity may be awarded based on eligibility and performance
• 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

Qualifications

• Ph. D Agronomy, Plant Science, Breeding, Horticulture, Agriculture Management, Agriculture Science or related field required with a minimum of 7 years of commercial experience or equivalent (Masters with >10 years experience). Strongly desire 5+ y Commercial ag tech development or regional agronomy leadership experience at Agricultural Science Company
• Track record in leading team in developing and executing commercial trials on new varieties and variety specific agronomy. research projects, collaborations, testing networks, and deployment strategies
• Applied knowledge of experimental design of field trials testing new variety, ag practices and ag technologies in commercial trials, data management and statistical interpretation of trialing results
• Experience in product development for market needs, develop & recommend product positioning strategy to produce the highest possible long-term market needs and partner with the regional procurement teams
• Proven ability to build and lead teams in complex matrix to meet needs of market regions, foresee future regional needs and feed back to R&D breeding and crop technology pipelines
• Demonstrated ability to explain complex plant pathology concepts to other scientists and to non-technical business partners
• Excellent communication and networking ability with internal and external audiences that have a wide range of scientific expertise

Requirements

• Position Location flexible
• Must be willing to travel 20-30% of the time both domestic and international

EEO Statement
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status.
PepsiCo is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Female / Minority / Disability / Protected Veteran / Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity
If you'd like more information about your EEO rights as an applicant under the law, please download the available EEO is the Law & EEO is the Law Supplement documents. View PepsiCo EEO Policy.
Please view our Pay Transparency Statement