Scientist Entomology (Scientist II)

Spectrum Brands; Missouri; On-site; USD 65,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Spectrum Brands’ biological sciences team in St. Louis area supports a broad indoor/outdoor insect control portfolio. The scientist will develop and test products for our outdoor brands, collaborating with marketing, formulation and regulatory teams to design assays, manage data and maintain lab notebooks in line with SOPs.

Work located at Earth City Laboratory with occasional travel within the St. Louis region.

Qualifications

• Entomology-related expertise or degree required.
• Experience with industrial entomology assays.
• Strong data management for lab and field data.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Ability to work independently and in cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Run high-quality lab and field trials and maintain detailed records.
• Collaborate with entomology, marketing, formulation and regulatory teams.
• Oversee external testing with CROs and manage data and notebooks.
• Ensure safety and SOP compliance in all experiments.
• Support product development with technical entomological insights.

Job description

Division Information

The Home & Garden business unit of Spectrum Brands is based in St. Louis, Missouri with distribution, manufacturing and sales offices throughout the US and globe. We are a leading supplier of consumer products nationally for the home, lawn and garden, insect and weed control markets. We deliver groundbreaking products of exceptional value and top-notch quality to consumers with our well-recognized brands including Spectracide®, Hot Shot®, Cutter®, Repel®, Black Flag®, Garden Safe®, EcoLogic® and Liquid Fence®.

Job Summary

The biological sciences team within Spectrum Brands supports a large portfolio of indoor and outdoor insect repellent, attractant, and control products, in brands including the: Cutter, Repel, Spectracide, Black Flag, Hot Shot, and Garden Safe product lines. The scientist will support product development for our outdoor portfolio across brands. They will collaborate with colleagues in marketing, formulation and regulatory to understand project and product needs, and conduct assays to provide robust and consistent data to enable decision making. They will conduct routine oversight of external testing with contract research organizations (CROs), manage and organize data, maintain an up-to-date lab notebook, and follow SOPs and safety guidelines. This role and duties will be carried out at our Earth City Laboratory as well as at times running experiments at other locations within the St. Louis region, travel infrequently to conferences and CRO locations.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Run Experiments: Conduct high quality lab and field trials, while keeping excellent records. Participate in screening cascades to aid in new product development.
• Work with Insects: Have comfort working with common urban and outdoor pest insects and arthropods, such as mosquitos, ticks, centipedes, cockroaches, spiders, flies, ants, and others.
• Work Safely: Prepare and administer experimental chemical treatments, according to product label instructions, while ensuring worker and environmental safety
• Collaborate: Work with entomology teammates and R&D colleagues in Formulation and Industrial Design to support projects.
• Support Product Development: run experiments under the direction of the entomology manager to support cross functional project teams, bringing technical entomological insights and ensuring product performance

Desired Skills

• Experience conducting entomological assays on insect control products in an industry setting
• Experience with data management for lab and field data, ensuring consistency and clarity.
• Good written and verbal communication skills. Comfort working both independently and collaboratively in a diverse and fast paced environment.
• Experience supporting technical product development.

Education and Experience Profile

• Entomological and Experimental Expertise: Advanced degree in Entomology, Agricultural Sciences, or related field, or a bachelor's degree with 2-4 years of relevant work experience.
• Understanding of urban, medical or veterinary entomology is a plus
• Preference will be given to applied research experience

Work Environment

90% of work in a laboratory/office environment with some flexibility of doing office work remotely on Mondays or Fridays.

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this job/classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Spectrum Brands is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.