Plant/Soil Microbial Research Scientist

Unit description:

The Growing Solutions, R&D Biological Product Development department, will develop new products based on biological means as part of ICL’s strategy to go into specialty fertilizer products.
This department will be composed of a cross-functional team of experts in microbiology, fermentation, formulation development, molecule delivery, and product analytics, and will work in collaboration with the field trials leaders from Agronomy, other departments within R&D, regulation, and Portfolio and marketing. 

What will your responsibilities be?

- Conducts, leads and supports research utilizing bacteria and fungi as live microbe technologies for agriculture. The role includes developing and performing microbiology experiments and laboratory tasks to establish the new biological ICL unit. The work may occur in the laboratory, field, and production locations. 
- Collect microbiota from plants, soil, and other environmental components to screen and discover new microbiology Biostimulants candidates.
- The role requires expertise in plant growth environments, management experience, as well as plant and microbiology laboratory skills are expected.
- Support the broader Research and Development team in the laboratory, field, and production locations, including cleaning, organizing, and conducting various experimental tasks.
-Serve as SME and hands-on laboratory scientist for microbial product development.
- Perform standard molecular biology techniques (e.g., DNA preparation, DNA/protein quantification, protein expression) and immunoassays.
- Synthesize results from studies by providing oral and written reports.

What are we looking for?

- M.Sc. or PhD degree in Microbiology/Biotechnology/Plant Physiology/Soil Microbiology 
- M.S with 5+ years or PhD with 2+ years of experience in working in Soil/plant Microbiology product development.
- Demonstrated abilities in soil/plant microbiology techniques.
- Fundamental knowledge of sterile techniques, culturing and maintenance of microbiological cultures, molecular biology techniques and media preparation.
- Experience in biotech and/or agriculture companies (biotechnology, fertilizers, crop protection, seeds, etc.).
- Proficient with standard Microsoft Office applications
- Knowledge of and training in good experimental design and basic statistics using statistical software (R, Prism, Minitab or JMP)

Special aspects of the position:

The preferred candidate will have a key role in establishing biological product development and building internal competencies and utilities.
This task involves high interfaces with internal and external parties. 
We are looking for someone who has an innovative mindset, is eager, loves to challenge, and unafraid of changes.

 
Who we are:

ICL Group is a leading global specialty minerals company, which creates impactful solutions for humanity's sustainability challenges in the food, agriculture and industrial markets. Our agricultural products feed the world’s growing population, over 400 million people per day!