Are you a scientific pioneer who stands at the nexus of data science, statistics, and biology? This role is for the visionary who sees the connection between a line of code and a more resilient harvest, and who is compelled to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve the most pressing challenges in agriculture. If you are driven to translate complex biological questions into elegant code and sophisticated models to make a tangible impact, your place is with us as a Breeding Scientist.

We need Breeding Scientists to collaborate with visionary plant breeders, biostatisticians, geneticists, computer scientists, and crop scientists to build science solutions and business capabilities. We are looking for a scientist with biological intuition, who can leverage AI not just as a tool, but as a lens to reveal unseen genetic potential. Join us and use your advanced analytics and AI skillset to contribute to our team and help us on our mission to lead the agricultural industry toward a more productive and sustainable future.

Corteva Agriscience has a rich history of scientific discovery that has enabled countless innovations. We are seeking talented collaborators globally to help advance our market-leading positions in seed technologies and digital agriculture.

Location: Passo Fundo, Toledo or Sorriso, Brazil

In this role, you will:

• Join a science team that is leading the effort to drive innovative predictive breeding, continuous improvement of data collection and analysis, and pilot algorithmically enhanced decision-making across Corteva's breeding organization.
• Directly contribute to Corteva's core research vision of accelerating genetic gain and developing more resilient, sustainable cropping systems by translating complex biological challenges into AI-powered solutions.
• Conduct crop-agnostic discovery breeding activities to uncover novel native traits and methodologies. Your work will directly translate into a strategic competitive advantage for our soybean pipeline and other key crops.
• Engage directly with a team of plant breeders, domain scientists, data scientists, and software developers assembled to identify business problems, discover new data opportunities, and provide data-driven solutions.
• Manage the deployment of new approaches to breeding decisions directly to breeding teams.
• Identify, acquire, and engineer feature data sets with the potential to address customer needs.
• Apply a spectrum of AI techniques—from machine learning and deep learning to statistical modeling and simulation—to extract insights from complex datasets in agronomic systems.
• Collaborate with scientists from multiple domains in solution/experiment design and analyses.
• Conduct and communicate results of research on data science and AI approaches to improve decisions, add value to services, extend or improve in-house models and algorithms, and contribute to the advancement of these ideas into the marketplace.
• Uphold Corteva Agriscience Core Values at all times.

Job Qualifications:

• A PhD in Plant Breeding, Genetics, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related field with demonstrated quantitative genetics knowledge, data science applications or demonstrated equivalent work experience.
• Understanding of agronomy, crop physiology, and the key challenges facing modern agriculture is a differential.
• Outstanding problem-solving skills and a proven ability to independently deliver analytic solutions by asking the right questions, identifying necessary data sources, and building and validating predictive models.
• Demonstrated expertise in applying AI and Machine Learning (ML) to solve complex scientific problems. This includes hands-on experience with deep learning, data mining, statistical methodology, or simulation modeling.
• Experience with high-throughput phenotyping data (e.g., drone/satellite imagery, sensor data) and integrating it into predictive models
• Working knowledge of optimization techniques, especially in the areas of unconstrained optimization, greedy algorithms, dynamic and linear programming, network flows, and genetic algorithms.
• Experience with complex cross-validation, such as data with unbalanced hierarchical nesting and/or time series components.
• Expert in scientific computing and high-performance math libraries with Python and/or R.
• Strong skills in building visualizations of scientific data, including a working knowledge of at least one scientific user interface framework such as Dash/Plotly or RShiny.
• Proven ability to work in a team setting and to complete complex projects on time and in budget.
• Superior communication skills, both verbal and written.

What will generate excitement:

• Familiarity and experience with biological systems, plant breeding, quantitative genetics, and genomics data.
• A track record of pioneering the use of AI in scientific domains, especially in bringing AI/ML solutions to quantitative biology problems where they haven't been applied before.
• A passion for leveraging technology to address global challenges, with a clear understanding of how AI can contribute to agricultural sustainability and food security.
• Comfort in using cloud-based systems and services, especially AWS.
• Experience building and sharing documented, reusable software libraries for scientific efforts.
  
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