Senior Scientist at Syngenta Group in Durham, North Carolina, United States

Job description

• This role is responsible for driving the discovery, development, and delivery of innovative biotech traits that provide resistance to disease through hands-on experimentation and close collaboration with experts and cross-functional teams both within and outside of Syngenta. The position establishes and optimizes high-throughput bioassays for multiple pathogens, including plant-parasitic nematodes, in both laboratory and greenhouse environments. Working collaboratively across Seeds and Crop Protection, the role integrates pathology insights into the product development pipeline to ensure traits and products are durable, broad-spectrum, and effective. By investigating host-pathogen interactions and translating scientific discoveries into actionable research and development strategies, this position plays a vital role in advancing durable disease-control solutions from early-stage research to practical applications that benefit farmers in the field.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement experiments to evaluate lead performance against key diseases including soybean cyst nematode from collecting inoculum, culture inoculum at appropriate scales, inoculation and disease susceptible/tolerance/resistance ratings in lab and GH environments.
• Innovate in new trait discovery and design to tackle business critical disease targets
• Develop correlations of disease susceptible/tolerance/resistance ratings in different environments as required by project.
• Create and test hypothesis and make recommendations as crop pathology experts
• Be the focal point of creating, internalizing and implementing plant pathology techniques and knowledge that enable the organization to meet the needs of the growers
• Seek out, identify, communicate and encourage examples of best practice from internal and external sources of information

Requirements

• Ph.D. or equivalent in plant pathology, nematology, genetics, genomics or related field, and 4+ years professional experience working in improving crop resistance against plant parasitic nematodes
• Excellent knowledge of molecular immunity and crop genetics
• Strong scientific acumen, self-motivated and striving for continuous improvement
• Strong sense of ownership in a team environment
• Recognized experts in plant pathology and nematology demonstrated by peer reviewed journals.
• Solid hands-on experience of working with diverse pathogens including plant parasitic nematodes
• Disciplined and rigorous approach to hypothesis-driven research, process improvement and change management
• Innovative and critical mind-sets with solid knowledge and skills in order to improve and challenge established ways of working
• 4+ years of hands-on experience applying general and modern pathology sills in dissecting genetic resistance/tolerance in crops.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems through innovative pathology approaches
• Advanced expertise of principles and activities in genetic and biochemical experimental setup
• At least 5+ years of laboratory work experience including: Daily working with plant nematodes, expert in large scale nematode production, infection, rating and reporting, proficiency in use of standard software and familiarity with databases, demonstrated experience in working effectively as a member of a dynamic and, multi-disciplinary team, being flexible and able to work on different assignments as needed, effectively implement and communicate results, and perform plant studies independently or as part of a team.

Skills

Required

• Self-motivated
• Team environment
• Innovative and critical mind-sets
• Plant pathology
• Nematology
• Molecular immunity
• Crop genetics
• High-throughput bioassays
• Nematode production and infection

Benefits

• A culture that celebrates belonging and collaboration, promotes professional development and strives for a work-life balance that supports the team members. Offers flexible work options to support your work and personal needs.
• Full Benefit Package (Medical, Dental & Vision) that starts your first day.
• 401k plan with company match, Profit Sharing & Retirement Savings Contribution.
• Paid Vacation, Paid Holidays, Maternity and Paternity Leave, Education Assistance, Wellness Programs, Corporate Discounts, among other benefits.
• Syngenta has been ranked as a top employer by Science Journal. Learn more about our team and our mission here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVCN_51GbNI