Associate Director of Plant Transformation
San Francisco Bay Area
Research & Development – R&D /
Full-time /
On-site
Living Carbon is hiring an Associate Director of Plant Transformation to lead plant transformation across our Hayward, CA and Charleston, SC labs. As a senior leader at the company, the Associate Director of Plant Transformation will be a key member of the R&D leadership team. This role will play a central role leading the development of the company’s capabilities in genome engineering and the production of transgenic and gene edited events for product creation.
Qualifications
- Ph.D. in Plant Biology or related field with at least 8 years of industrial experience in plant tissue culture and transformation, or equivalent education and experience
- Track record of R&D productivity, accomplishments, and team management experience
- In depth knowledge and hands-on experience in tissue culture and transformation of multiple plant species
- Demonstrated experience developing transformation protocols for challenging plant species, including trees
- Working knowledge and experience in protoplast isolation, manipulation, and regeneration
- Demonstrated record of streamlining the process of production transformation within project timeline
- Ability to perform data and statistical analysis with the focus to establish, guide, and improve SOPs in the functional area
- Strong, effective, and detail-oriented problem-solving skills to navigate and troubleshoot complicated technical and non-technical issues
- Experienced people manager with demonstrated strong interpersonal skills with an ability to build effective working relationships within functional area
- Strong communication and organizational skills to lead and support efficient cross-functional collaborations to help advance company projects
Responsibilities
- Direct and lead plant transformation protocol development and process optimization
- Design, guide, and execute lab experiments on both technology development and event production
- Maintain urgency in technical execution of projects while overcoming critical hurdles to drive company progression
- Plan and forecast timelines on event generation and delivery to support company’s decision making process; responsible for managing timelines and deliverables
- Drive effective communication and information sharing (knowledge, protocols, materials, etc.) among team members across multiple lab locations
- Manage, grow, develop, and mentor the team of plant transformation scientists including team leads and individual contributors
- Work closely with our Chief Science Officer and project leaders on resource allocation, task management, risk identification and mitigation strategies to ensure project needs are met
- Communicate both verbally and in writing with cross-functional project teams, management, and other stakeholders to ensure progress updates are provided and objectives are met on time
- Collaborate effectively with colleagues on the development of protocols, SOPs, quality control processes, data archives as well as the analysis of results and troubleshooting
- Stay abreast of current developments in the field of plant tissue culture, transformation, and genome engineering. Synthesize learnings to improve the company’s transformation process
- Some travel is expected for this role as the team is currently located in both Hayward, California and Charleston, South Carolina.
Living Carbon PBC offers competitive compensation, and generous healthcare, dental and vision insurance.
Living Carbon PBC is an equal opportunity employer.
We believe the best solutions to climate change are created by diverse teams. Living Carbon is focused on building a multicultural and inclusive team with strong representation from the many diverse communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. As a public benefit corporation, ensuring solutions to slow climate change are widely distributed to all peoples is critical to the success of our mission.
