Senior Director, Breeding

Position Summary

This role will lead the rapidly-expanding FBN plant breeding program, currently with six plant breeders focused on corn, canola and industrial hemp, at four breeding stations in the US and Canada.  The Head of Plant Breeding sets the technical strategy, objectives and budget for plant breeding at FBN, mentors the plant breeders, develops the plant breeding organization, establishes and maintains effective relationships with external partners, and is an active contributor to the FBN seeds strategy as a core member of the Seeds Leadership Team. The Head of Plant Breeding will also take a lead role in the expansion of the FBN breeding program into other market segments and/or crops.  Success is reflected by the development of successful commercial hybrids to enable FBN as an industry leading supplier of high ROI seed products for farmers, and the ongoing evolution of the capabilities and performance of the plant breeding organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Plant Breeding Program, in partnership with the Head of Product Development, Head of Breeding Operations, and the Head of Canada Seed R&D.
• Partner with Seed Category Management team to align on breeding objectives which best address the needs of FBN customers.
• Partner with the Breeding Operations, Molecular Analytics and Data Science teams to optimize the workflows for breeding projects.
• Direct the execution of the breeding program, including germplasm management, breeding methodologies, trialing and selection strategies, and advancement processes
• Promote the application of evolving methodologies in digital phenotyping, quantitative genetics, and genomics in the plant breeding program
• Seek out, develop and maintain effective working relationships with external partners and technology developers who are critical to the execution of the plant breeding strategy
• Active contribute to the evaluation of opportunities and the development of strategies to expand the plant breeding program into other market segments and/or crops
• Lead the expansion of the breeding program into other market segments and/or crops as determined in the corporate strategy
• Establish and regularly evaluate metrics to measure the progress of the plant breeding programs and the adoption of new technology in the plant breeding process.

Qualifications

Formal Education or Equivalent

• PhD in Quantitative Genetics, Genomics, Plant Breeding or related discipline
• Current knowledge in genomics methods in plant breeding

Years of Experience

• At least ten years commercial plant breeding experience
• Prior leadership experience in plant breeding

Characteristics

• Passionate about agriculture, farming and desire to put Farmers First®
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced start-up environment
• Highly independent, goal-oriented and solution driven
• Ability to facilitate collaboration with internal and external partners
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage results delivery of multiple simultaneous projects
• Ability to work well within time constraints, able to effectively prioritize in a high demand environment within multiple priorities
• Able and willing to travel domestically and internationally
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

The following represents FBN’s reasonable estimate of the US national average base salary range of possible compensation for this role based on market data and placement of internal employees: $170,000 – $190,000. 

This salary range may vary based on geography and variations in cost of labor. Beyond the above or adjusted to market salary range, FBN also offers all full-time employees competitive equity compensation, health and wellness benefits, and various perks.