Research Associate – Microbial Carbon Science

North Carolina - RTP

Indigo’s mission is to improve grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health using natural microbiology and digital technologies. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes and agronomic insights, Indigo works with growers to sustainably produce high quality harvests and then connects these growers directly to buyers in the marketplace. Working across the supply chain, Indigo is forwarding its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. In addition, Indigo has recently launched the Terraton Initiative, a global effort that seeks to remove one trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to enrich our agricultural soils. In the face of a climate crisis, the world's 12 billion acres of farmland and pastureland offer a scalable opportunity to remove excess carbon dioxide. https://terraton.indigoag.com/

The Microbial Carbon Science team, a cross-functional group of scientists within Indigo, is looking to hire a Research Associate to investigate how microbial-plant interactions can contribute to regenerative land-management practices through carbon sequestration and nutrient utilization. This Research and Development team works across early-stage product discovery platforms and collaborates closely with product development and commercial offering teams in Indigo Carbon. https://www.indigoag.com/for-growers/indigo-carbon

The Research Associate will be responsible for organizing and performing assays to measure the efficacy of our microbes in their ability to successfully interact with both commercial cash crops and cover crops to influence desired traits. Day-to-day activities include experimental setup according to agreed designs; preparation of microbial inoculum for plant seed treatments; collection, and quality control curation of phenotypic data enabling product advancement decisions; development of novel assays to efficiently identify effective microbes while ensuring biological relevance; and working across functions to coordinate necessary up- and down-stream processes required for a successful testing pipeline. Job title and compensation will be in line with level of education and experience. 

Responsibilities: 

• Make solutions and media necessary for growing healthy microbes and plants
• Organize screening activities to optimize throughput and data quality
• Collect and handle phenotypic data to support the capture of intellectual property
• Work closely with the discovery teams to develop and implement new assays
• Enable success of fellow research assistants through active mentoring and skill sharing
• Ensure compliance to all local, state, and federal regulations regarding the handling and devitalization of plant pests and other regulated microbes
• Participate in and contribute to our strong commitment to safety
• Understand and demonstrate Indigo’s Purpose and Core Values daily

Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to manage more than one workstream at a time, good managerial and time management skills
• Ability to work efficiently across functions and with diverse teams of collaborators spanning disciplines and geographies
• Critical thinking.
• Attention to detail and precise record keeping
• Ability to characterize plants and optimize phenotyping processes
• Ability to work independently and efficiently across functions
• Ability to maintain data integrity while automating simple data handling tasks
• Ability to follow and author effective standard operating procedures

 Qualifications:

• Minimum of Bachelor’s degree with 1-2 years of experience required in plant or microbiology
• Experience in plant biology research and handling research data, required
• Ability to safely lift 50 pounds and work in high humidity and high temperature conditions, required.
• Minimal travel and some weekend work, required
• Experience in plant phenotyping and plant pathology, strongly preferred
• Experience in a programming language (e.g. VBA, Python, R), preferred

Please note: This position is considered essential and the successful applicant will be required to report in person as allowed by any currently in-force COVID19-related restrictions.

Indigo is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional commercial offices in Memphis, Tennessee and additional research offices located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, the location of this position. https://www.indigoag.com/