About the role....

This is a great opportunity for an exceptionally talented Director to join the INARI organization. This role will be accountable for developing and executing new products to support growth of current and future integrated products in corn and soybeans, or other critical crops for the Company. This role will closely coordinate breeding, edited, and trait introgression pipelines and collaborate with the commercial organization to support the needs of Inari’s portfolio. This role will have people management responsibilities and report to the PreCommercial and Late Product Development VP. This role is based in West Lafayette, Indiana or may be remote.

As the Breeding Design Director, you will be responsible for…

• Strategic Product Integration: accelerate the integration of germplasm, GMO traits and edits to develop groundbreaking products from ideation to commercial reality
• Breeding Leadership: Spearhead state-of-the-art precision breeding methodologies and other strategies, ensuring swift genetic advancements and their seamless implementation in the field.
• Strategic Collaboration: Play a pivotal role in shaping our germplasm access strategy, working hand-in-hand with our commercial team. Define, measure, and interpret key metrics to evaluate the breeding value and usage of collaborators' germplasm, facilitating impactful communication with our partners.
• Value-Driven Trait Integration: Supervise and provide direction in devising trait integration approaches.
• Work with a multidisciplinary team, including direct reports, to accelerate and develop novel products and support broader product adoption in targeted markets.
• Partner with Operations, Molecular Analytics and Data Science teams to optimize the workflows for breeding projects
• Lead technical activities to assist advancement of multiple projects concurrently through the Stage Gate product development process
• Manage budgets and resources needed for project development and team support.
• Assist with the regulatory strategy and execution to enable field testing of Inari’s product pipeline while ensuring our Freedom to Operate (FTO)
• Partner with Legal and Intellectual Property (IP) teams to ensure that all related efforts are following FTO and IP valuation processes
• Provide regular and timely updates on project status, key milestones, challenges and next steps to key stakeholders and leadership
• Actively contribute to the evaluation of opportunities and the development of strategies to expand the plant breeding program into other market segments and/or crops
• Develop an organizational culture that creates a great place to work, best in class positive work environment and growth of individuals
• Up to 25% travel

You Bring…

• Preference is for M.S. or PhD degree in Agronomy or Ag Business with 5 to 10 years of industry experience in breeding, trait introgression, product evaluation, and/or technical product management. Willing to consider a B.S. degree with proven years of experience.
• An in-depth understanding of all aspects of the seed business, with expertise in germplasm, product testing and evaluation, and commercialization
• A willingness to travel domestically and globally for collaboration interactions
• Good understanding of product lifecycle management
• An understanding of product performance evaluation and characterization, agronomic practices, and growing environment differences
• Demonstrated track record of business acumen and strategic and tactical decision making capability
• Aptitude for working with and learning technical information along with attention to detail
• A strong sense of purpose and drive to develop unique, high impact solutions
• Adaptability and enthusiasm for new challenges, innate curiosity, and a passion for learning
• Creative and strategic thinking, willingness to be bold and take risks, and the capacity to recognize and learn from failure
• Ability to work both independently and a collaborative mindset that is open to giving and receiving ideas, perspectives, and feedback
• An effective communicator with a diverse range of individuals and audiences

Bonus Qualifications...

• Strong understanding of corn and soybean product development and licensing business is a plus
• Understanding of supply chain quality requirements and processes
• Previous people management experience