Strawberry Molecular Breeder

Applicants must be legally eligible to work in the country where the position is located.

Location
:
Watsonville, California, USA

Experience years
: 3-5 Years

Employee type
:
Regular

Remote type
:
Onsite

The Molecular Strawberry Breeder is an integral role within our Global Strawberry Breeding Team. This position is responsible for developing and executing the molecular breeding strategy for our strawberry breeding programs. This position focuses on leveraging advanced molecular techniques to enhance breeding efficiency and genetic gain, contributing to developing superior strawberry cultivars that meet global market demands. The role involves close collaboration with the global strawberry breeding team and various departments, including molecular genetics, chemistry, sensory, plant pathology, entomology, physiology, and production research.

This cross‑functional interaction is crucial for designing and executing innovative breeding techniques and analytical tools that improve breeding efficiency and genetic gain for strawberry. This position reports to the Strawberry Breeding Director.

• Lead and manage several research projects in collaboration with multiple functional teams. Projects include quantitative genetics, genomic selection, cytogenetics, disease and pest resistance, abiotic stress physiology, QTL mapping, bioinformatics, and molecular marker development.
• Understand the priorities and strategies of each Strawberry Breeding program to target projects and resources depending on their needs. Shape and lead the molecular breeding strategy for the global strawberry breeding program.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the strawberry breeding team and other R&D groups to consult, strategize, and provide input on genotypic assay development and coordinate implementation of genomic prediction.
• Lead applied marker efforts – Marker Assisted Selection and Genomic Prediction – for all strawberry breeding programs, in conjunction with the other strawberry breeders, breeding greenhouse, and molecular groups.
• Identify and curate the appropriate pre‑breeding resources necessary for long‑term advancement. Develop the pre‑breeding strategy in collaboration with the breeders for each program.
• Identify, test, and deploy new phenotypic techniques to optimise and serve research projects.
• Collaborate with breeders throughout Driscoll’s strawberry breeding group to share and implement advances made in understanding markers and traits.
• Mentor and guide work related to the molecular program done by the Research Associates of the different breeding teams.
• Delivers data‑driven recommendations on molecular marker performance, project progress, and predictive breeding advancements, and molecular breeding strategy to guide production genotyping team and commercial breeders in implementation.
• Contribute to field and post‑harvest evaluations and selection process.
• Performs other duties as instructed by supervisor.

• Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Horticulture, or related field.
• Experience in plant breeding, focusing on molecular breeding and pre‑breeding strategies.
• 4+ years minimum experience (including grad school experience).
• Broad skill set spanning multiple disciplines within plant science and genetics, and the ability to be comfortable working across this range.
• Project management of breeding projects, coordinating between commercial breeders, molecular researchers, and R&D departments.
• Experience with genomic databases, SNP data extraction, and visualization programs.
• Experience with Molecular Breeding and Genomic Selection, Quantitative Genetics, Statistical Analysis and Bioinformatics and Genomic Data Analysis.
• Disciplined, self‑motivated, detail‑oriented, and have good verbal communication.
• Work independently and as part of a team and collaborate with other scientists in achieving team goals.
• Must be able to work in field and agricultural settings.
• Represent Driscoll’s in external collaborations, conferences, or publications.
• A driver’s license is required and a valid passport and the ability to travel internationally.

Salary Range…