Managing Director for the Swiss Plant Breeding Center

Updated: 11 months ago
Deadline: The position may have been removed or expired!

The SPBC team is looking as of now or by appointment for a

Managing Director for the development and establishment of the Swiss Plant Breeding Center (m/f/d)

Workload: 80 - 100%, Location: Switzerland, provisionally CH5070 Frick

The Swiss Plant Breeding Center (SPBC) is the newly founded, independent competence and innovation center for plant breeding in Switzerland. Its objective is to strengthen Swiss plant breeding and increase its efficiency. Its main tasks are to network the players in breeding and research and to transfer new scientific results to practical breeding programs. The SPBC provides technical support, know-how and competence to breeders and takes an active role in the planning and implementation of innovation projects. It offers services aligned with customer needs and is open to all crop types, cultivation systems and methods, covers broad areas of expertise through network partnerships and is active in the acquisition of customers and third-party funding. The SPBC acts in accordance with the Swiss Plant Breeding Strategy 2050 and is supported by federal funding.

Your tasks and responsibilities:

  • Co-design and establishment of the Swiss Plant Breeding Center in close collaboration with the SPBC project team and the organization responsible for the SPBC.
  • Management, conceptual development of the SPBC and its planned expansion from 2025 onwards.
  • Establishment of a service portfolio for private and public plant breeding stakeholders.
  • Support of Swiss breeders in project acquisition, planning and implementation of innovation transfer in ongoing breeding programs.
  • Support and development of the SPBC network of breeders, researchers and service providers.
  • Public relations of the SPBC and acquisition of third-party funding.

Requirements:

  • Studies in plant sciences or comparable studies with completed PhD, preferably in the fields of plant breeding, molecular genetics, bioinformatics.
  • Ideally MBA (master of business administration) or corresponding experience in SMEs.
  • Entrepreneurial and negotiation skills, high self-motivation, perseverance and enjoyment of varied work.
  • Scientific and practical expertise in applied plant breeding.
  • Solid knowledge and practical experience in modern breeding methods (e.g. marker-assisted and genomic selection, genotyping, digital phenotyping, breeding methodology, genome editing, big data, machine learning, bioinformatics, statistics, database management, etc.).
  • Experience in project acquisition and management, financial control and stakeholder management.
  • Communicative with high social and leadership skills, innovative, creative, customer- and solution-oriented
  • With an interest in networking the players in Swiss plant breeding and in playing a decisive role in shaping the breeding of adapted varieties for the Switzerland of tomorrow.
  • At least one national language, German or French, and English.

Please send your electronic application in German or English (incl. letter of motivation, CV, list of publications, references) with subject "CEO_SPBC" by 1st June 2023 to [email protected] . For further information, please contact Monika Messmer, +41 79 379 16 29

The development of the SPBC is supported by the BLW and the SPBC project team: Cédric Bärtschi (FiBL), Monika Messmer (FiBL), Amadeus Zschunke (Sativa Rheinau AG), Karl-Heinz Camp (DSP), Roland Peter (Agroscope) und Bruno Studer (ETHZ).



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