Ag Science Principal Scientist

Job Title

PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader operating in more than 200 countries and territories with a product portfolio that includes 22 world-famous, billion-dollar brands. From Gatorade to Quaker, LIFEWTR to Lay's, we make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to be the global leader in convenient foods and beverages by Winning with Purpose. "Winning with Purpose" reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of the business.

Our employees drive our culture. No two days are the same; we're dynamic and full of passionate teams embracing new ideas through our collaborative spirit. At PepsiCo, what makes you unique, makes us better!

This exciting role sits within the R&D Global Agricultural Science team, a core function that delivers research and development to support PepsiCo's billion-dollar global food brands, including Lays, Walkers, Doritos and Quaker. Our global team of scientists is at the heart of PepsiCo's pep+ mission - driving world class research, development and innovation in new technologies and practices that delivers for both people and the planet.

You'll be creative and results oriented, with a proven track record of delivering innovation and continuous improvement of digital capabilities. In your previous roles, you'll have been working on digital capabilities in the agricultural sector, and you'll be equally comfortable talking about data architecture, data security, the tactical requirements for deployment of new digital infrastructure for global platforms and the benefits of crop predictive insight capabilities.

You'll take a lead role in implementing the R&D Ag Science end-to-end digitization strategy and solution deployment to support the research and development innovation agenda with focus on plant phenotyping data capabilities. You'll be responsible for key projects which underpin Ag Science global data stewardship and associated digital infrastructure, deploying digital tools to drive efficiency across the team, pipeline analytics, data quality and transparency. This role will work across Ag Science capabilities delivering digitization solutions in breeding, phenotyping, genomics, agronomy trialing, crop modelling and AgTech capabilities. This will underpin delivery of advantaged varieties, innovative practices, sourcing optimization, and the PepsiCo Positive agriculture agenda.

You'll also help manage engagement with stakeholders from other PepsiCo functions whilst collaborating across the entire Ag Science team. This position sits in the Ag Science function within PepsiCo Foods R&D, located at the PepsiCo R&D office at Plano, Texas and will report to the Global R&D Knowledge &Insights team lead.

Responsibilities

• Take a lead role in implementing the R&D Ag Science digital strategy with focus on plant phenotyping capabilities, geospatial and other ag science related research areas.
• Identify internal digital gaps and opportunity areas and work across teams internally and externally to meet research and development operational needs of Phenotyping, genotyping, breeding, field data collection, genomics, variety pipeline, decision analysis and AgriTech as applicable.
• Deliver innovation and continuous improvement of digital ag intelligence platforms.
• Provide subject matter expertise evaluation of new digital capabilities.
• Ensure the correct data infrastructure is in place to enable seamless interoperability of data across global R&D Ag Science locations and data platforms.
• Have a solid understanding of data privacy, data sharing and associated security considerations across platforms and territories and support the Ag Science team's compliance with PepsiCo IT Security policies & data privacy laws.
• Support engagement globally across PepsiCo R&D teams, internal IT teams and all Procurement territories regarding digital ag.
• Support annual budget planning process for Ag Science digital capabilities and workstreams.
• ~10% travel.

Qualifications

• PhD in Ag Sciences (or related field) with minimum 3 years' experience and/or MS in Ag Sciences (or related field) with minimum 5 years' experience or BS with 10+ years experience
• A minimum of 5 years' experience in Agriculture Technology, including data science, data analysis, cloud-based infrastructure, as well as remote sensing, field sensors, climate prediction technologies in full-stack platform development.
• Great communication and networking skills with internal and external audiences that have a wide range of scientific expertise.
• A proven ability to work closely with colleagues on complex projects with a high degree of flexibility and comfort with change.
• Demonstrated ability to manage activities within assigned resources/budgets and to balance need to deliver aggressive business innovation goals with scientific excellence.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing integrated data workflows, establishing data standards, and defining digitization strategies for breeding or variety pipeline or variety testing programs is highly desirable.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure cloud computing infrastructure a plus.
• Adapt to unexpected delays and changes in workflows to maintain overall productivity.
• This position will be based in Plano office in Texas. Must be willing to travel up to 10% of the time both domestic and International. Must be willing to flex work schedule to accommodate video and phone conferences across multiple time-zones as an alternative to travel.
• This position is limited to persons with indefinite right to work in the United States