About the Opportunity

The R&D IT Portfolio Lead will oversee and coordinate a portfolio of R&D IT products within a global R&D organization. This role will be central to aligning R&D IT projects with larger strategic initiatives, driving product innovation, and ensuring seamless collaboration with Driscoll’s larger Information Services (IS) organization in areas including Infrastructure and Security. The R&D IT Portfolio Lead will develop a vision for a platform of tools, a corresponding roadmap, will prioritize and phase individual projects with a deep understanding of the needs of the R&D organization and how different data types support our Mission, and will foster a culture of innovation to advance R&D capabilities through Information Technology.

Responsibilities

• Partner with crop and functional leaders to develop and articulate a vision for R&D IT platforms, starting with  breeding, analytics, and breeding technology.
• Develop a rolling five-year roadmap of R&D IT projects leading the discussion of what individual products are in and out of scope.
• Create and manage a portfolio of projects, maintaining alignment on timelines, budget, and strategic direction.
• Provide ongoing strategic leadership and tactical guidance to Agile team in a rapidly changing R&D organization.
• Develop an annual budget, track and manage CAPEX and OPEX resource spend.
• Lead external scouting and relationship building to keep Driscoll's R&D informed on the latest IT tools and applications offered from third parties.
• Drive discussions on build, partner, or buy decisions, considering the relative costs and benefits of potential action.
• Liaise with Driscoll’s Corporate Information Services on infrastructure and security needs.
• Provide regular updates with program management tools (e.g. JIRA).
• Lead an R&D IT steering committee running monthly to quarterly update meetings, setting agendas, and working with R&D IT team to report progress.
• Run weekly meetings on what is coming next, new requirements and requests, mitigating and escalating potential risks or conflicts.
• Schedule necessary trainings with users on new products.
• Articulate a vision for data as a valued corporate asset.
• Perform project valuations and/or portfolio analysis.

Candidate Profile

• MS or PhD in the life sciences with significant exposure to breeding, ag technology, and IT at a large R&D organization with 8+ years of experience.
• Five or more years in research IT department or corporate/enterprise IT department.
• Experience with portfolio or program management, Agile software development, and new variety development.
• Passionate about learning new crops, new technical domains, and applying technology to agriculture.
• Experience working in an R&D IT environment, including with Agile, and an understanding of other software development approaches.
• Exposure to clonal crops preferred.
• Experience working in AWS preferred.

Compensation and Benefits

The following information is provided in good faith as a general description of the salary range and benefits for the position posted. The actual compensation offered to the successful candidate is dependent upon experience, skills, education, work location, internal pay equity, and other objective job-related factors. 

Salary Range estimated for the R&D IT Portfolio Lead role: $107,619.00/year to $167,200.00/year.

Driscoll’s is committed to a culture of care and offers an attractive benefits package that varies between our locations. Benefits may include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, life insurance, and disability coverage for positions working more than 30 hours per week (US). Other benefits may include:  401(k) with employer match, profit-sharing participation, paid sick time, paid vacation, paid personal and family care leave, and a free Employee Assistance Program (EAP).  More detailed information regarding the benefits package based on your geographic location, will be shared during the application process.

About Driscoll’s

Driscoll's is the global market leader for fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. With more than 100 years of farming heritage and hundreds of independent growers around the world, Driscoll's is passionate about growing fresh, beautiful and delicious berries. Our values of humility, passion and trustworthiness have guided our mission to delight consumers around the world.

Driscoll's exclusive patented berry varieties are developed through years of research using only natural breeding methods – meaning, no GMOs. From farm-to-table, we focus on delivering a high quality, premium berry experience with our many supply chain partners.

Driscoll's is the trusted brand for Only the Finest Berries™.