NSPP Technician - Cereals (Ruiru) at Syngenta

Role Purpose

To help lead and manage the Cereals Research & development Nursery seed production activities aimed at delivering breeding and seed production technologies in line with the seed development business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Supports overall Site Research Program for cereals aimed at establishing a Centre of Expertise (CoE) in Research for new genetic trials, new technology screening and developing crop production & processing improvement programs to improve productivity.
• Helps implement the annual crop calendars as developed by the Demanders and translated by the Crop manager
• Ensures timely execution of all operations for the development of SSD & CMS lines including sowing, plant morphology recording, field observations, plant and ear selection and pollination, harvest and threshing, label production and data collection, shipment preparation together with post-harvest and logistics departments
• Executes the tissue sampling, freezing, and drying of various material in readiness for marker testing in our molecular marker lab in France.
• Participates in developing scientific evidence-based standards and analytical capabilities including experimental design & reporting, standardized tools and metrics, and upscaling/change management processes to realize reliable results- e.g., LCS - Harvesting stage, Cycocel, plant nutrition, tray well size, etc.
• Takes lead in reviewing ‘Crop Production' Best Practice Protocols in liaison with your line manager and the breeders and/or their crop specialists
• Communicates progress reports effectively to the crop manager and breeders to enable prompt decision making during the production process.
• Ensures optimization of all resources allocated to him/her in execution of duties and looks out for and leads the implementation of continuous improvement (LSS/OPEX) opportunities to achieve productivity improvements.
• Collaborates with the R&D Veg & DFC section in sharing best practices and optimization of resources like, people, media, trays/pots, labels, seed machines, greenhouses, etc., where applicable.
• Supports Budgeting and budget management by providing data to help continuous monitoring of performance against budget.
• Provides adequate and continuous training and objective performance evaluation of the team to secure efficient and sustainable delivery to the customers while intentionally and relentlessly working with individual workers to improve in areas where they are weak and identify and nurture talents.
• Efficiently allocates tasks to the workers based on capabilities and competencies to secure efficient and cost-effective delivery of our promise to the customers
• Takes lead in troubleshooting and conducting RCAs using appropriate Problem-solving methodologies when significant deviations in protocol or overall performance occur.
• Champions the implementation of Syngenta HSE policy and adherence to all HSEs rules in all decisions and activities on site, taking lead in submitting safety observations/Near misses for remediation.
• Always ensures compliance to phytosanitary/Hygiene protocols within the site
• Supports the attainment and sustenance of the GSPP/Syngenta QMS accreditations for the GSPP section and the non-GSPP section within the R&D site respectively.
• Champions the implementation of DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY both in Cereals and other operations on site i.e. Digital data capture and reporting, label-printing and barcoding systems to eliminate pen and paper, while improving efficiency and accuracy. This role is by default the digitization champion
• Any other tasks & projects as may be allocated from time to time by the line manager.

Qualifications

• University Degree in Agriculture/Horticulture/Plant Breeding/Biotechnology or related field

Personal Attributes

• Attention to detail
• Innovative
• High integrity
• Self-drive
• Interpersonal relation
• Objective
• Patience
• Open minded.

Key Skills

• Leadership
• Organizational/People management
• Communication
• Analytical
• Computer skills – Ms. Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access etc.
• Problem solving

Critical Experience

• 1 to 2 yrs. of relevant experience

Working Relations

Internal

• Breeders
• Digital and processing technology specialists
• Crop Specialists/managers
• Global and regional crop planners
• Planning and Operations Lead
• Heads Of Sections
• NSPP Technicians/Assistant technicians

External

• As delegated by line manager/site manager