Woody Ornamental Technical Advisor

Description

Status: Full-time, exempt

Department/Division: New Product Development/ Woody Ornamental and Edible Department

Reports to: Woody Portfolio Manager or Director of Woody Products

Location: Star® Roses and Plants, West Grove, PA - This position has heavy travel expectations

The opportunity.As the Woody Technical Advisor for Star® Roses and Plants (SRP), you will serve as an expert and champion for the company’s proprietary woody genetics. This means you will work as a liaison between the woody leadership team, sales team, customers, and suppliers to identify ways to improve, fortify, and grow the success of the woody program across the entire pipeline, for all working groups. One day you might be walking field trials with a grower and providing specific technical advice and the next you may be educating a sales team member on the most helpful way to present the company’s genetics to a customer. This is a unique position in a rapidly growing program!

Responsibilities you can expect.

• Serve on woody leadership team and production planning committee and participate in sales team meetings. Work closely with the woody new product development team to select new varieties for introduction.
• Act as liaison between the woody leadership team and sales team to align strategies and resource allocation in order to grow market share and nurture collaborative relationships with growers and suppliers.
• Spend time in the field with sales representatives, training and empowering them to understand what customers value in woody plants and how SRP products uniquely meet those needs with solution-based offerings.
• Represent SRP woody genetics at regional and national trade events. Create awareness of and excitement around existing and future varieties. Lead the strategic initiative to move customers to SRP proprietary woody products.
• Provide onsite or remote technical support to customers and suppliers to ensure their success in the woody category. Help collect and organize data from customer plant trials, using insights to encourage the addition of new varieties to customer offerings.

Requirements

Work environment.

This position requires the ability to work in an office, in outdoor conditions, and while traveling. Requires sitting, standing, bending, and reaching, manual dexterity sufficient to operate standard office equipment, and normal range of hearing and vision. In addition, the position requires the ability to stand and walk for long periods of time while visiting industry events, greenhouses, nurseries, and trial sites; some of these environments may expose you to temperature extremes, humidity, various weather conditions, and toxic material.

Travel requirements.

50–70% throughout North America. This includes traveling one-on-one with each sales representative in their territory, visiting customers and business partners, attending industry events, and making frequent trips to the Pennsylvania facility, if remote. Candidates must be able to travel outside the United States into Canada.

You have this.

• Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture or similar field, or equivalent experience. Product knowledge within the woody/tree market is required.
• Minimum 5 years of experience as a head grower/production manager/trials manager directly involved with growing woody/tree liners or finished plants.
• Hands-on familiarity with woody field growing, propagation, and pest and disease management, as well as the specific protocols and challenges for woody/tree production.
• Strong interpersonal and written communication skills, with a focus on collaborative problem-solving alongside sales representatives and growers.
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint) and other related software, with strong general PC skills.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

We have this.

• Medical, dental, and vision offered to employees and their families
• HSA FSA options
• Paid time off paid holidays
• Company paid for STD life insurance
• LTD and additional life insurance options
• 401(k) retirement plan company match profit sharing
• Employee growth and development
• Tuition reimbursement

About Us

128 years of horticultural history: that’s a good start. Our unique structure as both an IP company and wholesale plant distributor has given us the opportunity to make a positive impact on numerous aspects of the industry. With innovation at the forefront of everything we do, our team contributes to the research and development, breeding, and introduction of novel plant genetics that possess the traits needed for young plant growers to be successful. Our