Research Officer, Digital Controlled Environment Systems
Job in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7W, Canada
Listing for:
National Research Council Canada
Full Time
position
Listed on 2026-06-04
Job specializations:
-
Engineering
Research Scientist, Robotics
-
Research/Development
Research Scientist, Robotics
Job Description & How to Apply Below
Tenure:
Continuing
Language Requirements: English
Work arrangements:
Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position will require full-time physical presence at the NRC work location identified.The role
As a Research Officer, you will play a key role in designing and managing experimental systems that simulate diverse agricultural and environmental conditions. You will lead research and technology development efforts that combine biological, environmental, and digital systems to improve plant productivity, resource efficiency, and sustainability.
Working collaboratively with NRC researchers, engineers, and external partners, you will help establish NRC as a global leader in digital agriculture and controlled environment research.
Key Responsibilities:
Develop, operate, and optimize controlled environment systems (growth chambers, greenhouses, vertical farms) to support crop and environmental simulation and production research through programming, sensor integration and systems optimization.Design and manage experimental systems that mimic various climatic, soil, and environmental factors affecting crop growth.Implement advanced digital twins and automated technology platforms with a emphasis on indoor agriculture and controlled environment technology (ex. IoT, robotics, drones, AI, autonomous instrumentation, sensors, non-destructive data acquisition and phenotyping platforms).Design and conduct experiments that examine the effects of environmental variables (light, temperature, humidity, CO₂, nutrient delivery) on plant growth, physiology, and yield through digital and automated crop measurement, and environmental modelingConduct innovative R&D on plant-environment interactions to improve production efficiency, sustainability, and crop quality through simulated environmental platforms and digital twins.Design and analyze multifactorial experiments integrating environmental, biological, and digital data to support data-driven decision-making and modeling.Lead the generation of high-quality scientific and technical outputs — including reports, peer-reviewed publications, patents, and prototypes.Collaborate with NRC teams and external partners in industry, academia, and government to develop and transfer technologies.Screening criteria
Applicants must demonstrate within the content of their application that they meet the following screening criteria in order to be given further consideration as candidates:
Education
, Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Science, Plant Science, Horticultural Science, or related with combined relevant post-doctoral experience in controlled environment technologies, system design and optimization, environmental control, data driven farming.
For information on certificates and diplomas issued abroad, please see Degree equivalency
Experience
* Significant and
*** recent experience designing, operating, optimizing and troubleshooting integrated controlled environment systems such as growth chambers, greenhouses or vertical farms.* Significant and
*** recent experience developing or applying advanced digital agricultural technologies and automation for plant production environments* Significant experience with research on plant-environment interactions to optimize plant production, composition and growth systems.* Significant and
*** recent experience with integration of IoT, data acquisition, and automation systems for precision environment and automation control.** Experience in conducting multifactorial experiments and data-driven analyses involving environmental and biological variables.*** Recent experience in managing research projects and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams.** Experience with writing and presenting scientific reporting, publications and patents.* Significant experience is defined as 4 to 6 years of experience.
** Experience is defined as 2 to 3 years.
*** Recent experience is defined as experience acquired within the last 5 years.
Condition of employment
Reliability Status
For a Reliability Status, verification of background information over a period of 5 years is required.
Language requirements
English
Information on language requirements and self-assessment tests
Assessment criteria
Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
Technical competencies
Solid knowledge of crop physiology, plant-environment interactions in support of sustainable production systemsSolid knowledge regarding the application of integrated digital and automated agricultural technologies in research or industry (GIS, IoT, robotics, drones, AI, crop modeling).Strong knowledge of applying modeling to interpret and predict plant-environment interactions for optimization of plant production and growth systems for indoor agriculture.Knowledge of the application of sensors, data integration, data acquisition, and automation systems for precision environment control.Knowledge of analytical skills, data interpretation, problem solving and scientific…
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