Staff Engineer, AI-Powered R&D Planning

Syngenta-Group; Bracknell; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension

Bonus scheme

Private medical & life insurance

Up to 31.5 days holiday

Job summary

Syngenta Crop Protection is seeking a Staff Engineer, Decision Support & Planning Optimization, to drive AI-powered decision making and planning applications for R&D. You will lead Python/Java backend engineering, architecture, and retrieval workloads to shape how R&D operates and scales.

You will mentor engineers, design robust testing, ensure security, and collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to deliver scalable, audit-ready systems in a rapidly evolving field.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in Python or Java backend engineering.
• Demonstrable experience in software architecture and API design.
• Demonstrable experience in document ingestion and retrieval patterns.
• Demonstrable experience in text embeddings and retrieval-oriented workloads.
• Demonstrable experience in AI-assisted engineering with rigorous review.
• Demonstrable experience in React or Angular awareness.
• Demonstrable experience in quality and documentation standards.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven mentorship and team leadership experience with junior and mid-level engineers.
• Fluent English, written and spoken.

Responsibilities

• Lead and apply deep expertise in Python or Java backend engineering to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in software architecture and API design to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in document ingestion and retrieval patterns to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in text embeddings and retrieval-oriented workloads to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in AI-assisted engineering with rigorous review to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in React or Angular awareness to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Mentor and guide junior and mid-level engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.
• Design and implement comprehensive testing strategies, including unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end validation for knowledge management systems.
• Establish and enforce security best practices and compliance standards throughout the development lifecycle to ensure audit-ready systems.
• Optimize system performance and scalability, identifying bottlenecks and implementing solutions to support growing data volumes and user demands.
• Collaborate across engineering, product and scientific teams to translate complex needs into practical solutions.
• Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, architecture diagrams, and knowledge repositories to support team alignment and future development.
• Set a high bar for quality, documentation and thoughtful use of AI-assisted engineering.

Skills

Python

Java

Software architecture

API design

Document ingestion

Retrieval patterns

Text embeddings

AI-assisted engineering

React

Angular

Mentorship

Leadership

English fluency

Tools

React

Job description

Syngenta Crop Protection is seeking a Staff Engineer, Decision Support & Planning Optimization, to drive AI-powered decision making and planning applications for R&D. You will lead Python/Java backend engineering, architecture, and retrieval workloads to shape how R&D operates and scales.

You will mentor engineers, design robust testing, ensure security, and collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to deliver scalable, audit-ready systems in a rapidly evolving field.