Senior Strawberry Grower & R&D Lead (Equity)

Oishii; Jersey City (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary and Equity

Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance

Life Insurance & LTD

EAP

Pet Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

Paid Parental Leave

Office social events

Employee activity groups

Job summary

Oishii is seeking an Expert Grower in Jersey City, NJ to drive cultivation experiments and recipe development across production and R&D farms. You will lead teams, manage experiments, and ensure safety and IPM protocols while advancing plant health, yield, and quality targets.

The role blends hands-on farming with strategic planning, overseeing cross‑functional projects and developing a multi‑year experiment roadmap under guidance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in horticulture, plant biology, plant physiology, soil science, or a related degree.
• 8+ years of experience as a strawberry grower in greenhouse, vertical farm, or large-scale traditional or research farm.
• 8+ years of experience in team and production or experiment farm management.
• Experience in experiment design, cultivation recipe development, and execution.
• Proven ability to communicate experimental outcomes and translate them into recipe proposals.
• Strong expertise of plant growth, environmental control, cultivation systems (e.g., UTR), and IPM.
• Open-minded and adaptable leader who actively listens to diverse perspectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead experiments analyzing cultivation data, timelines and outcomes to identify growth characteristics and root causes.
• Own defining and prioritizing cultivation challenges and plan experiments accordingly as it relates to yield and quality targets (KPIs).
• Oversees experiment execution by directing team members, recording plant status weekly, assessing experiment continuation, and wrapping up findings in ~2 weeks.
• Maintains full compliance with safety and IPM protocols throughout all operations.
• Under minimal supervision, tests and proposes optimal parameters (light, fertilizer, irrigation, CO2, etc.) by cultivar and irrigation method, and proposes base recipes.
• Facilitate cross-functional projects (e.g., equipment retrofits) with Engineering, Maintenance, etc., including planning, to‑do management, and coordination.
• Manage and develop the senior growers, junior growers and R&D operators that report to you.
• Develops 1–2 year experiment roadmap under guidance, and leads optimization of recipe development processes and strategic workflows.

Skills

Experimental design

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Data analysis

Communication

Problem solving

Adaptable leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in horticulture/plant biology/plant physiology/soil science or related field

Job description

Oishii is seeking an Expert Grower in Jersey City, NJ to drive cultivation experiments and recipe development across production and R&D farms. You will lead teams, manage experiments, and ensure safety and IPM protocols while advancing plant health, yield, and quality targets.

The role blends hands-on farming with strategic planning, overseeing cross‑functional projects and developing a multi‑year experiment roadmap under guidance.