As the Lead Agronomist, you will lead our plant scientists team to source, test, grow and scale production of high value plants in our crop cultivation systems. On Earth in BioPods with a focus on medicinal, cosmetic, food and tropical plants, and in Space in NUCLEUS with a focus on micro-greens, mushrooms and vegetables. 

You have a passion for plants, from tropical to medicinal and you are eager to find the best recipe to optimise their growth and composition. Your are innovative and fast decision maker, your goal is to lead our team to grow faster and better any plants our customers need. 

You are a world-class plant scientist or research-oriented grower who provides vision and technical leadership, embraces the complexity of biological systems, has a hunger to understand our biosphere and planetary science at a fundamental level, and is driven to deliver solutions for plant production systems and sustainable indoor crop cultivation on Earth and in the future in Space. You are passionate about plants and believe there is way for technology and ancient agriculture wisdom to work together.

You are excited to collaborate with the team on the optimisation of our plant production systems, crop selection and monitoring algorithms and also looking forward to conduct research internally as well as with other institutes in controlled-environment plant growth systems, impact of environmental conditions on plant yield and molecular composition. 

RESPONSABILITIES

• Manage team and implement processes to optimise workflow
• Lead the development and research on controlled-environment plant growth systems
• Lead  the sourcing, production and processing of plant production
• Collaborate on the development of yield prediction models and implementation in our prediction algorithms
• Participate in research collaborations both inside and outside the company
• Define standards, frameworks, and tools for research and development and testing
• Contribute to crossover research in several growing systems
• Collaborate with team in design and engineering of BioPod, NUCLEUS and other growing systems

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 7+ years experience in Vertical Farming or CEA
• MSc degree in the biological or plant sciences
• Deep understanding of plant physiology, nutrition, and pathology
• Basic or applied research experience
• Excellent communication skills, flexibility, and empathy
• Ability to “think like plants” — to look at plant production in a holistic manner and identify what plants want, using both data analysis and hands-on interaction

 PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Practical knowledge in data analysis, experimental design, statistics, plant modeling, plant imaging or scientific computing
• Project management experience
• Life sciences laboratory experience

LOCATION

Paris (France) and travelling to our site at NASA Kennedy Space Center 

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at Interstellar Lab. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks.

Interstellar Lab is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  Interstellar Lab does not discriminate on the basis of race, regional color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.