Breeder STE at Mondi Group

Purpose of the position:

• Manage tree breeding operations by maintaining genetic diversity and increasing genetic gains for growth, wood quality, biotic, and abiotic tolerance in breeding and commercial germplasm. 

EDUCATION

MIN EDUCATION REQUIRED:

• Senior Certificate

TERTIARY: ESSENTIAL

• BSc: Genetics / Plant Science (Required) 
• MSc/PhD: Genetics / Plant Breeding / Molecular breeding (Advantageous) 

SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE

• 3 years in managing a breeding programme with commercial objectives 
• 5 years in managing an operational research team 

RESPONSIBILITIES / KPAS:

• Provide management leadership for the tree breeding team, including contractor staff.
• Provide technical direction on all breeding operations (trial establishment, selections, deployment and conservation). 
• Ensure project management, planning and execution within allocated resources. 
• Ensure strict adherence to company SHEQ, governance and compliance guidelines in the breeding operations. 
• Perform data analysis, data interpretation of genetic and selection parameters with sufficient level intuitive plant breeding acumen. 
• Recommends germplasm for commercial deployment and play a leading role in their site-matching commercial deployment. 
• Perform generational turnover of the main breeding populations of bred species, including their conservation 

Requirements.

• Generate sustainable hybrid breeding populations for the clonal breeding program, including their conservation requirements.
• Construct and formulate the field team’s annual plan of tree breeding operations 
• Plan and review annual budget and Capex requirements. 
• Perform strategic and technical collaboration with internal research partners Mondi forest operations and  other Mondi technical functions.
• Perform strategic and technical collaboration with external research partners such as TPCP/FABI (pest and diseases), CAMCORE/ICFR (breeding and enabling technologies), MG/EPPI (molecular breeding and enabling technologies) and CREATION BREEDING (tree breeding database).

JOB COMPETENCIES / ATTRIBUTES/SKILLS – ESSENTIAL

• Microsoft Office 
• Ability to communicate and present effectively at all levels (Technical and Scientific reporting)
• Medium level proficiency of Mixed Models Analysis software platform (R, ASReml, SAS, GenSTAT) 
• Be able to work without direct supervision in a high pressure, deadline-driven environment. 
• To continuously produce improved germplasm for commercial deployment in the shortest breeding cycle possible.
• Understanding the genetic variation in tree species to facilitate the improvement of important traits such as growth, stem form, wood quality, P&D tolerance, adaptability and resilience.
• To continuously test and validate genotypes across diverse land types and leverage internal or  external collaboration for effective benchmarking and the rapid adoption and assimilation of relevant  technologies.
• To continuously improve the testing, phenotyping, genotyping and propagation methods to shorten the breeding cycle to maximise gains per unit time and cost.