Senior Research Associate - Seed Science

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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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…