Regional Field Research and Technical Development Head, NA

UPL Limited (NSE: UPL & BSE: 512070, LSE: UPLL) is a global provider of sustainable agriculture products and solutions, with annual revenue exceeding $6bn. We are a purpose-led company. Through OpenAg®, UPL is focused on accelerating progress for the food system. We are building a network that is reimagining sustainability, redefining the way an entire industry thinks and works – open to fresh ideas, innovation, and new answers as we strive towards our mission to make every single food product more sustainable. As one of the largest agriculture solutions companies worldwide, our robust portfolio consists of biologicals and traditional crop protection solutions with more than 14,000 registrations. We are present in more than 130 countries, represented by more than 10,000 colleagues globally. For more information about our integrated portfolio of solutions across the food value chain including seeds, post-harvest, as well as physical and digital services, please visit upl-ltd.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

 

 

Job Summary: This position will lead the North America Technical Development and Technical Service Teams, reporting to the Global Head of Field Research and Technical Development.  The ideal candidate will have a background in Crop Protection Development and management of the development process from ideation to commercialization.  This position will lead a team of Technical Development Managers, Technical Service Lead and team of Technical Service Managers in United States, Technical Service Lead, Canada, and Field Operations Administration Support.  Collaboration with global and regional development, marketing, formulations, and regulatory team is imperative to manage new and existing projects to meet business initiatives.

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Technical Development:

• Work closely with marketing and regulatory team to align development program to growth targets.
• Work closely with global development teams to bring global or new active ingredients to our region to provide differentiated solutions to our customers.
• Lead development of project trial plans and secure budget for execution of projects to stay on schedule to meet milestones. 
• Monitor budgets and third-party agreements to ensure the UPL development program is compliant and within budget.  
• Lead efforts with North American and Global Formulation teams to support new product development.
• Work closely with Intellectual Property colleagues to ensure the team is complying with existing patent law and securing IP where needed.
• Support UPL NA sales management on customer development and Business to Business opportunities.
• Develop ways to increase the overall efficiency of the development team by executing streamlined trial development and data analysis.
• Build technical tools to help deliver key technical messages to other functions. 
• Present new and innovative ideas to improve overall department efficiencies.

Technical Service:

• Work closely with Technical Service Leaders for United States and Canada to ensure alignment with Marketing to support sales of new and existing products.
• Ensure Technical Service team is supporting sales efforts through research trials and training.
• Assist in managing Technical Service trial planning, budgeting, and execution.
• Facilitate alignment of Technical Service team with key customers to support sales growth and New Product Launches

Project Management:

• Develop close working relationship with regional PDG to effectively collaborate and deliver on project milestones and key product launches.
• Work closely with the regional PDG, and global/regional marketing to align our pipeline gaps and targets with our development projects.

Team Management:

• Develop a high-performance team and drive a culture of accountability, meritocracy, and inclusiveness.
• Collaborate with HR on people development, performance management, culture, and engagement priorities.

Requirements/Qualifications:

• Valid Department of Transportation Driver’s License

• Master of Science in an Agricultural discipline with 7 plus years of experience in agricultural research is required, Ph.D. is preferred.
• Experience with major row and specialty crops is required, experience with biological products preferred.
• Experience in establishing field trials, analyzing data, interpreting results required.  
• Ability to lead a team of technical individuals to build pipeline additions to the UPL portfolio.
• Must be able to present clear, concise data to individuals and in a group setting.
• Strong organizational skills and problem solving is required to increase the