Job Description

About Syngenta

At Syngenta Vegetables and Flowers, we're cultivating tomorrow's diversity through innovative breeding that brings vibrant colors to gardens and nutritious vegetables to tables worldwide. We combine centuries of seed heritage with cutting-edge innovation to develop resilient, high-performing varieties that thrive in diverse climates. Join us in shaping the future of sustainable horticulture, where every seed holds the potential to enhance lives through better nutrition and natural beauty.

At Syngenta, our goal is to build the most collaborative and trustworthy team in agriculture, providing top-quality seeds and innovative crop protection solutions that improve farmers' success. To support this mission, Syngenta's Vegetable Seeds R&D team is seeking a Trait Development Scientist in El Ejido, Almería This role will support the delivery of novel, commercially relevant traits into the Vegetable Seeds R&D pipeline - from discovery and validation through to product integration.

Accountabilities:

• Identification and the characterization of new traits.
• Develop and execute technical strategies for trait discovery and validation; define project plans, timelines, deliverables, success metrics, and resource/budget forecasting across multiple vegetable crop projects.
• Contribute to trait and technology projects as project lead or team member, managing goals, scope, and documentation while communicating and influencing across functions, including R&D and Marketing stakeholders.
• Design and implement experiments applying genetics, plant pathology, molecular biology, statistics, and data analytics to identify, characterize, and develop commercially relevant traits - including the capture of intellectual property.
• Build and maintain cross-functional partnerships with plant pathology, breeding, bioinformatics, and centers of excellence, as well as external academic scientists, regulatory bodies, and germplasm repositories, to accelerate innovation and integrate emerging technologies.
• Ensure compliance with Syngenta R&D governance, HSE standards, quality-control and seed movement regulations, while contributing to knowledge transfer across teams and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in plant sciences, genetics, plant pathology, plant physiology, or a related field - or M.S. with significant experience in trait discovery, development, or crop breeding.
• Expert knowledge in plant breeding/genetics, quantitative genetics, plant pathology, or plant physiology, and experimental design for crop research.
• Familiarity with vegetable crop biotic or abiotic stresses, host-pathogen interactions, gene identification, gene functional validation, genome editing methods, data analytics, and modeling; basic knowledge of vegetable crop development, production, and the application of molecular tools to accelerate plant breeding is a plus.
• In-depth understanding of vegetable crop diseases, seed-borne disease risks, crop production practices, and quality-control and shipping regulations on a crop-by-crop basis.
• Experience managing R&D workstreams with a high degree of autonomy, delivering results through ambiguous situations with effective planning and creative problem-solving.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences and build alignment across functions without direct authority, including experience with knowledge transfer across teams.
• Results-oriented and customer-focused working approach, with organizational skills and a collaborative, inclusive mindset;
• Multilingual capability required (Spanish and English; French is a plus).

Additional Information

What We Offer:

• Work-life balance: we offer flexible working hours to support a healthy balance between personal and professional life.
• Remote work: we have a remote work policy applicable when the nature of the role allows.
• Trust: we believe that freedom, trust, and responsibility are the foundation for our teams to grow and reach their full potential.
• Competitive compensation: a comprehensive package including fixed salary, bonus, pension plan, life insurance, and a wide range of flexible benefits to choose from (Meal Vouchers, WellHub, among others).
• Professional development: opportunities for growth and career advancement.
• Continuous learning: training programs with access to platforms such as Degreed, LinkedIn Learning, and language courses.

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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