Assistant Crop Technician Wild Bioscience Biotech Abingdon

OBN Ltd; Abingdon; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative start-up is seeking a motivated Assistant Crop Technician to join a dynamic team focused on enhancing crops for sustainable farming. This role offers a unique opportunity to work with cutting-edge science and contribute to impactful agricultural solutions. You'll be responsible for plant care, crop trials, and ensuring a safe working environment. The position is based in state-of-the-art facilities, where collaboration and hands-on work are key to success. If you're passionate about plant science and eager to make a difference, this is the perfect opportunity for you!

Benefits

Group life cover x 3 of base salary

Enhanced maternity and paternity pay

Complimentary refreshments

Team meals for networking

Training and development opportunities

Flexible working opportunities

Opportunity to work with cutting edge science

Qualifications

• Experience in controlled environment settings and plant care.
• Ability to work in a team and support various projects.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement plant care across common crop types.
• Assist with crop trials and maintain growth facilities.

Skills

Plant propagation techniques

Team collaboration

Experimental design understanding

Microsoft Excel

Problem-solving

Flexibility in working hours

Job description

At Wild Bio we are radically enhancing crops to feed the world sustainably and promote a wilder planet. Wild plants have had half a billion years to evolve natural solutions for thriving in almost every environment on Earth. Our proprietary genetics platform harnesses these wild innovations to enhance the world’s most important crops. Wild-enhanced crops would simultaneously boost farm yields and promote gigaton-scale carbon mitigation strategies. If you’re looking for a start-up that has enormous potential for impact on growers, consumers, and the planet, please read on.

Wild Bio is a well-funded, fast-paced Oxford University spin-out working from state-of-the-art labs and offices at Milton Park, Oxfordshire. We are about to enter an exciting phase of growth and are looking for an experienced, driven, and curious Assistant Crop Technician to join us and significantly contribute to delivering the change we believe in.

The role:

We are looking for a skilled and motivated Assistant Crop Technician to work within a team of technicians developing and implementing plant care across a range of common crop types with the use of controlled environment growth chambers. Detailed responsibilities include:

1. Working with a team of technicians to develop and implement plant care across a range of common crop types including Wheat, Soybean and Maize.
2. Lead in keeping the growing areas clean and tidy to ensure the team is always operating in a safe environment, particularly with regards to biosafety for which training will be given.
3. Support other members of the team to maintain and implement improvements in our growth facilities and systems. This includes fitting irrigation systems, fixing systems when they go wrong and contacting the appropriate external contractors for more specialist work to ensure they attend the job timely.
4. Assist with implementing and executing crop trials in controlled environment growing conditions.
5. Propagate crops regularly for the needs of the wider team for a range of purposes, including preparing soil and filling up large numbers of pots.
6. Carry out routine maintenance on equipment and facilitate basic facility improvements.
7. Assist the company’s goods in process – receiving and distributing deliveries to the appropriate storage spaces, sometimes including bulky and heavy items.

Knowledge and skills:

1. Demonstrable experience working with plants in Controlled Environment settings and show understanding of experimental design in the propagation of crops.
2. Demonstrable experience working as part of a larger team, acting as an enabler for different projects and show a willingness to engage and help where needed.
3. Familiarity with plant propagation techniques such as irrigation systems, nutrient application, soil mixing techniques and plant support structures.
4. Familiarity with the use of Microsoft Excel.
5. Flexible with working hours outside of office hours where needed, including travel to research institutes within the UK.
6. Ability to respond quickly to emergencies with access to Milton Park being no more than 1 hour from Home.
7. Well organised and able to keep your workspace tidy and clean.
8. Experience of growing more than one target crop is highly desirable.
9. Familiarity handling data from experiments and the ability to process and present data clearly.
10. Experience growing at least one of the target crops (Wheat, Soybean, Maize).
11. A practical mindset to fix things and problem solve difficulties.

Benefits:

1. Group life cover x 3 of base salary.
2. Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.
3. Complimentary refreshments throughout the week.
4. Team meals including breakfast on a Monday and lunch each Friday, creating opportunities for informal networking and team bonding.
5. Training and development opportunities.
6. Flexible working opportunities.
7. Opportunity to work with cutting edge science.

Location:

We’re headquartered in Milton Park, a business and technology park in Oxfordshire. We are a small, fast-paced team working on cutting-edge science, and we believe the relationships forged and the work we do in-person will be crucial for our success. For this reason, we are asking that applicants be able to work on-site.

The successful candidate will be required to provide proof of eligibility to work in the UK.