Senior Research Associate - Seed Science

Corteva Agriscience; Johnston (IA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits for you and your affiliffi

Paid time off

Parental leave

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Vylor, a pioneer in crop science, seeks a Global Seed Quality Scientist to lead precommercial seed testing across crops, coordinating experiments, data governance, and analytics to support advancement decisions. You will own vigor assays for corn, guide global teams on stress emergence, analyze multi-year trait data, and communicate results to R&D, Production, and Commercial stakeholders.

The role requires collaboration across regions and a track record of innovative data applications.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Agronomy, Crop or Seed Science, Plant Breeding, or related field; 5+ years of experience.
• Experience planning and managing agronomic or scientific research programs.
• Proficient in mixed-model analysis and experimental design principles.
• Experience managing research data pipelines and QC in enterprise systems.
• Strong statistical data analysis skills including multi-year data interpretation (R or equivalent).
• Experience designing field trials and interpreting field data.
• Excellent communication across diverse audiences.
• Ability to influence in a matrixed organization; strong prioritization.

Responsibilities

• Direct precommercial seed quality testing across crops and locations; design experiments and provide analysis-ready data.
• Own corn stress-vigor assay methodology and guide global teams on vigor and emergence risk.
• Analyze parental seed quality data to flag high-risk germplasm and advise advancement.
• Plan and analyze multi-location field trials using precision ag, analytics, and imaging tools.
• Diagnose emergence, vigor, storage, and biotech trait quality issues and recommend mitigations.
• Present findings at forums and build seed quality capability across regions.
• Supervise one direct report and interns; assist budget planning.

Skills

Statistical analysis

Experiment design

Data interpretation

Project management

Communication

Leadership

Education

Master's degree in Agronomy, Crop or Seed Science, Plant Breeding, Agricultural Research

Tools

R

Python

Job description

Join Vylor—Powering the Future of Agriculture

At Vylor, we’re advancing agriculture through breakthrough science—combining elite germplasm, cutting-edge biotech, and next-generation expertise in gene editing and molecular breeding. Our portfolio includes trusted industry brands like Pioneer®, Brevant®, and Hoegemeyer®, delivering performance farmers rely on.

Join us to help scale innovation globally and shape what’s next in crop science.

Job Purpose:

Manage the global seed quality testing program for precommercial material in corn and multiple crops, ensuring the resulting data is structured, validated, and positioned to support analyses that drive product scoring, advancement decisions, and seed production risk profiles. Translate seed quality trait characterization, vigor, and stress emergence data into actionable advancement and risk-management recommendations. Serve as the organization’s technical authority on seed quality assessment in corn and a technical contributor in additional crops, providing consultation to R&D, Production, Quality, and Commercial stakeholders in major global markets.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Global testing program & data stewardship (30%) – Direct precommercial seed quality testing across crops and locations; design experiments, ensure analysis-ready data, run BLUP analyses, and supply data to analytics partners.

• Seed quality & vigor SME (20%) – Own corn stress-vigor assay methodology, guide global teams on vigor, storage, and emergence risk, and set advancement criteria and risk thresholds.

• Trait characterization & product risk (20%) – Analyze parental seed quality data to flag high-risk germplasm, score traits, and make advancement recommendations.

• Stress emergence field research (15%) – Plan, coordinate, and analyze multi-location field trials using precision ag, analytics, and imaging tools.

• Root-cause investigations (5%) – Diagnose emergence, vigor, storage, and biotech trait-related quality issues and recommend mitigation.

• Technical communication & training (5%) – Present at forums and conferences and build seed quality capability across regions and functions.

• People leadership (5%) – Supervise one direct report and interns, mentor talent, and support budget planning.

Problem Solving:

• Sustains progress on long-cycle research and strategic initiatives while owning a cyclical global testing program with fixed deadlines and serving as the organization’s on-demand technical resource for urgent seed quality and product performance issues.

• Innovatively seeks and assimilates relevant data from multiple sources — research and non-research — and from diverse global stakeholders, frequently making defensible recommendations.

Decision Making:

• Determines experimental and data structures for the global precommercial seed quality testing program, directly governing whether downstream analyses are valid and whether advancement decisions rest on sound data.

• Sets and defends advancement criteria and risk thresholds that directly influence commercialization decisions, seed production risk profiles, and inventory risk exposure.

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Agronomy, Crop or Seed Science, Plant Breeding, Agricultural Research, or a related technical field, with 5+ years of relevant industry or research experience

• Demonstrated success planning and managing agronomic or scientific research programs

• Working knowledge of mixed-model analysis and the experimental design principles that support it

• Experience managing research data pipelines — experiment setup, data loading, and quality control in enterprise research data systems

• Demonstrated statistical and data analysis skills, including interpretation of multi-year datasets; proficiency in R or equivalent

• Experience designing field research trials and interpreting field data

• Excellent oral and written communication across diverse audiences and circumstances

• Results-driven, with demonstrated capacity to influence within a matrixed organization and across functions

• Strong people, organizational, and project prioritization skills

• Strong record of innovation and applying new technology

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced training or demonstrated depth in seed physiology, crop physiology, or seed science

• Direct experience in seed quality, seed vigor assessment, or seed physiology

• Experience across multiple crops — corn plus soybean, sunflower, canola, or sorghum

• Experience scripting automation for data submission or processing workflows (R, Python, or equivalent)

• Experience partnering with data science or predictive modeling teams as a data and domain resource

• Familiarity with marker-trait association and genome-wide association methods

• Experience building dashboards or decision-support tools

Benefits – How We’ll Support You:

• Numerous development opportunities offered to build your skills

• Be part of a company with a higher purpose and contribute to making the world a better place

• Health benefits for you and your family on your first day of employment

• Four weeks of paid time off and two weeks of well-being pay per year, plus paid holidays

• Excellent parental leave which includes a minimum of 16 weeks for mother and father

• Future planning with our competitive retirement savings plan and tuition reimbursement program

• Learn more about our total rewards package here - Vylor Benefits (https://hrportal.ehr.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=joPuo3NxhtM%3d&portalid=423)

• Check out life at Vylor! https://www.linkedin.com/company/vylorgenetics/

Are you a good match? We seek applicants from all backgrounds to ensure we get the best, most creative talent on our team.

Vylor is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to embracing our differences to enrich lives, advance innovation, and boost company performance. Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, military or veteran status, pregnancy related conditions (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), disability or any other protected status in accordance with federal, state, or local laws.

Corteva Agriscience™ is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to boldly embracing the power of inclusion, diversity, and equity to enrich the lives of our employees and strengthen the performance of our company, while advancing equity in agriculture. Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability or any other protected class. Discrimination, harassment and retaliation are inconsistent with our values and will not be tolerated. If you require a reasonable accommodation to search or apply for a position, please visit:Accessibility Page for Contact Information

For US Applicants: See the ‘Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law’ poster. To all recruitment agencies: Corteva does not accept unsolicited third party resumes and is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.