Description

Mission statement: Strive in the development of innovative solutions in diagnostics that create value for our customers and ensure business continuity.

Job Summary: Corteva Agriscience is seeking an outstanding candidate to fill an Associate Investigator position in the North America Diagnostics Team. The Diagnostics Team serves different areas of the business by using state-of-the-art technology for pathogen identification. Our services support Corteva's commercial groups, research, and development projects, Agronomy, and phytosanitary seed movement. In addition, the Diagnostics Team interacts with international Corteva locations to support IPM, phytosanitary, and disease characterization. The Associate Investigator will serve as an integral member of the Diagnostics Team focusing on molecular and morphological diagnostics of pathogens in multiple crops. The responsibilities of the Associate Investigator will involve, but are not limited to, running molecular diagnostics assays, morphological diagnostics and contributing to research experiments related to pathogen diagnostics. The position will involve close collaboration with other teams in the Global Plant Pathology (GPP) group as well as with teams outside the GPP group. The candidate is expected to participate and contribute at all phases of the team's projects from setting priorities, task planning to the execution of day-to-day tasks, experiments, data collection, data analysis, and reporting.

Responsibilities include:

• Responsible for diagnosing plant diseases and running molecular diagnostic assays in the lab.
• Assist lead diagnostician with triage of samples when they are received in the lab.
• Work with diagnostic team members to optimize and develop diagnostic protocols.
• Maintains, organizes, and summarizes results of experiments, noting problem areas, while recommending actions to be taken within standard procedures.
• Determine how to conduct experiments to meet research needs in a timely manner and decide priority of work activities.
• Support the Global Diagnostics Network as necessary.
• Collaborate with the Molecular Plant Pathology team in validation of novel technologies and new assays.
• Support diagnostics team in partnering with GSO, Research (CP and Seed), and Commercial to support projects related to diagnostics.
• Willingness to work irregular hours when needed.
• Strictly adhere to Corteva's safety and record keeping policies and values.
• Understanding of NSHS seed health testing methods.
• Executing on Phytosanitary diagnostic requirements and customer support on digital processes.

Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor's in plant sciences such as biology, agronomy, plant pathology, or related field, and 3 years of experience in molecular plant pathology and diagnostics.

Required Qualifications/competencies:

• Strong background in plant diagnostics, molecular pathology, and general plant pathology concepts; in depth, hands-on experience preferred.
• Proficient with concepts, tools, and methods for molecular and morphological pathogen diagnostics and application of these tools to perform effective and efficient diagnostics assays.
• Proven experience working with and providing user support for digitalized systems.
• Strong organizational, planning, detail focus, data management, and communication skills.
• Capacity to solve problems and propose novel solutions to existing problems.
• Ability to work well in a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team setting and connect across a wide array of research sub-functions.
• Proficient in verbal and written communication.
• Must be dependable and able to support scientific projects from inception to completion.
• Demonstrated competency to effectively prioritize projects, manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.
• Strong troubleshooting skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills to foster teamwork.
• Self-motived and have a willingness to learn new skills and understand new processes.
• Ability to work independently while setting high expectations.

VISA sponsorship is not available for this position.

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 – Corteva Benefits
• Check out life at Corteva! www.linkedin.com/company/corteva/life

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