Job Vacancies at Bayer

Role Purpose

The Market Development Agronomist utilizes their expertise in applied field research and agronomic sciences to provide technical support to a select geography and crop. This includes execution of the field testing program which utilizes Research and Development protocols to support key business drivers for all facets of the country or region -including Seed, Trait, Biologicals, Crop Protection and Climate digital tools. The Market Development Agronomist is also responsible for knowledge transfer, demonstration and education of the product and system recommendations.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

• Responsible for large-scale demonstrations in partnership with sales to identify the value of programs to minimize cost and maximize ROI.
• Responsible for the implementation larger scale field protocols including treatments, site assignments and data collection.
• Create customer pull.
• Accountable for building confidence and competence in our internal sales and marketing organizations, external sellers and customers by training on our portfolio, products and agronomic information. 
• Support the stewardship and adherence to company polices.
• Responsible for Stewardship training linked to area of responsibility.
• Responsible for the value proposition development of customized agronomic solutions for the key crops in area of responsibility to support sales and business growth targets.
• Build profile as technical expert in territory.
• Drive the safety agenda.
• Responsible to integrate and incorporate products into agronomic systems and make recommendations on adjustments to cropping systems.
• Responsible for the development of a sales support strategy link to the area of responsibility.
• Responsible to connect with industry partners for example PSA, Cri and SATI.
• Support the development and responsible for the implementation of the GTM strategy.
• Responsible for investigation product complaints, writing of technical report and advising sales on actions.

Qualifications, Skills and Competencies  

• MSc degree in Ag/Life Sciences or related discipline or BSc Degree with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in agricultural research.
• Superior understanding of crop production which includes relevant crops for the region.
• Good working knowledge of Crop Protection Industry and Seed Business  
• Excellent relationship and team skills
• Understanding of implications of actions on the achievement of BCS short term and long-term objectives.  
• Advanced written, verbal, and presentation skill set  
• Excellent organization and time management
• Proactive partner with sales to exceed business targets
• Intermediate level of English speaking.

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Role purpose

• Maximize the value of our business and ensure realization of our commercial strategy in line with relevant KPI’s in cooperation with our CP channel partners.
• Drive business growth for our CP products
• Assist in creating demand for our Dekalb seed products and Digital Farming offering.

Key responsibilities and tasks

• Area strategy
• To actively shape the area strategy from a sales and customer point of view with the territory sales manager and other relevant functions.
• Sales strategy
• To define and implement a differentiating area sales strategy fully consistent with country / marketing / customer strategy.
• To optimize use of commercial policies (Market funding) and channel partner/ agent programs.
• Channel partners/ agents
• To build relationships and shape his or her channel partners, exceeding the relevant benchmarks in customer satisfaction.
• To develop capabilities of his or her channel partners according to requirements of future Go to
• Market strategy, benchmarks and customer satisfaction expectations.

Area sales plan and delivery

• To develop and implement an ambitious and consistent sales plan in line with country objectives as well as legal and compliance rules and obligations.
• To ensure delivery of forecasted results according to sales plan, utilising superior operative sales planning, forecasting, and monitoring (incl. price and product flow) mechanisms and KPIs and taking timely and matching corrective actions in case of deviations from plan.
• To closely follow up, actively share with corresponding functions, esp. marketing, and dynamically respond to opportunities, issues, market changes incl. competitor moves, adjusting tactics as required.

Other

• Ensure implementation of corporate guidelines and compliance policies.

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification may be an advantage.
• Track record in leadership positions.
• Track record in sales management.
• Previous operational experience in customer facing positions.
• Solid agricultural knowledge and understanding of local market environment.
• Demonstrate Bayer leadership competencies, eg. build effective team, courage, strategic mindset, etc.
• Demonstrate Bayer core competencies, eg. drive results, manages complexity, customer focus, collaboration, instill trust, etc.

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Role purpose

•  Experienced and highly organized fleet management function
•  Administration and Management Service to Bayer South Africa & SAC Countries.
•  Responsible for the process and procedures ensuring planning, developing, implementing and monitoring of the Global and local policies and procedures.
•  Responsible for complete, timely and qualitative management and execution of operations in the fleet management to ensure compliance in terms of purchase /rental agreements, fleet insurance, maintenance requirements as well as license renewal outsourcing.
•  Should lead the monitoring of fleet management performance and be able to report this information to everyone involved in the decision-making process at strategic and operational levels.
•  Drive efficiencies through fleet performance indicators and be able to implement operational cost monitoring and savings.
•  Responsible for risk identification and mitigation as well as cost reduction in all areas related to the function.

Key responsibilities and tasks

•  Facilitating and actively participating the company car meetings with HR and Procurement by formulating new suggestions / updates towards company car policy.
•  Ensure that the Company Car policy is implemented and ensure adherence thereof.
•  Control and administer replacement of company vehicles in terms of time and distance limits and according to car cycles.
•  Monitor and adjust company car full maintenance lease contracts to coincide with time and distance limits as per car policy.
•  Act as Proxy for Bayer in terms of licensing and registration of company cars.
•  Manage company pool cars / temporarily vacated cars and ensure that all company cars can be accounted for at all times.
•  Manage vacated cars for re-allocation when new employees start to ensure cost efficient allocations to Bayer.
•  Control and administer review of travel allowance cycles.
•  Submit monthly Stanfleet fuel usage, toll usage and maintenance cost as input to HR payroll timeously as per the set timetable.
•  Inspect fleet on a regular basis to comply with company safety policies.
•  Aware of risks in the macro environment (vehicle hijacking trends and hotspots, car theft trends and statistics and keeping the drivers aware and alert where possible.
•  Risk awareness for poor driving conditions, poor road conditions and communicating with the business as to how to mitigate for such
•  Accurate record keeping and generating reports and stats on the following:
•             Quarterly Global Fleet Report to Germany
•             Quarterly stats for CFO
•  Using e-auction to procure new company vehicles.
•  Manage and re-direct company car driver’s fines.
•  Balance and send monthly Stanfleet fuel, toll fees and top up oil charges to creditors for processing.
•  Prepare monthly fuel usage reports for each eligible employee.
•  Send monthly In House fuel cost to Global. Upload file for Global Flix tool for IFRS calculations.
•  Manage FMS tool, ensure that new employees are loaded, and new employees are also trained on the FMS tool.

Key Tasks:

•  Managed requests for new fuel cards and eTags.
•  Manage Insurance claims, and arranged (Isando based) repairs related to company cars.
•  Supply company car updated file to Marsh on a regular basis.
•  Monthly Full maintenance lease balancing to be sent to creditors and insure all SAP amounts and employee data are correct.
•  Creating SRM’s for petrol and diesel deliveries.
•  Managed the selling of Bayer owned vehicles via compliance process as and when it is required.
•  Manage vendor negotiations and agreements with Legal and Compliance.

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

•  Excellent administration skills
•  Computer Skills: SAP, Outlook, Advanced Excel, PowerPoint and Word
•  Proven vendor relationship management
•  Ability and experience to handle insurance claims.
•  Good communicator, detail orientated, persistent and a self-starter. Must have managed a fleet size exceeding 500 vehicles preferably at a blue chip or large multinational company
•  Mechanical and technical experience/knowledge of vehicles and fleet equipment is advantageous
•  5 years or more in Fleet and Asset management.
•  Minimum of a Diploma would be required and a Bachelor’s degree would be an advantage
•  A qualification in Road transport/Fleet management or Logistics would be an advantage. 
•  Valid driver’s license

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Role purpose

Lead planning and coordination of the seed production activities in South Africa (~70%) and Zambia (~30%) with Field managers, Seed growers, Plant operations, SPI, Pre-Foundation, Crop planners and contractors, in order to meet the seed availability and quality standards required for all the production regions.

Planning and ensuring the efficient use of human resources, equipment and materials.

Key responsibilities and tasks

• Lead building and maintaining a reliable and sustainable grower base, to ensure consistent supply.
• Foundation team for all internal and external customers.
• Lead analytics for field processes, to ensure the correct decisions for planning.
• Lead the pre-season planting planning to ensure a consistent supply of product to the different plants.
• Lead the planning and coordination of production activities, Grower contracting, Planting, In-Season Processes, Detasseling and Harvesting.
• Lead the coordination with seed growers field managers and the Operations Leads to ensure a smooth transition and flow of product from field to plant.
• Lead HSE efforts according ISO45001 and Bayer2055 standards focusing on legal compliance and identifying safety risks applying the HIRA methodology.
• Lead the development, update and compliance with quality assurance standards and management system set by the applicable QMS (ISO9001) standard.
• Create, manage and continual tracking and compliance of the Operational budgets.
• Identify and deploy operational improvement, tracking and best practices and processes to continually seek improvements in reliability and cost efficiencies.
• Promote and coordinate the Velocity data management tool, to effectively analyze and utilization of field data to manage productions effectively.
• Manage Velocity and SAP data, to ensure correctness for contracting and field processes.
• Utilize onePSS as a platform to implement best practices, for example, Visual Management to track Operations KPI`s on Tier 2 and 3 meetings.
• Actively laisse with Government and Seed certification bodies in industry decision making especially relating to certification of Seed produced by the Foundation teams.
• This role will dedicate roughly 70% of its time to South Africa Foundation Field Operations and roughly 30% to Zambian Foundation Field Operations.

 HSE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Motivate field employees to wear the correct PPE.
• Follow Safety Operations procedures.
• Report all accidents or incidents immediately.
• Participate in identifying hazards.
• Participate in Tier meetings and monthly Health and Safety Meetings.
• Maintain a safe and orderly environment.
• Upon request participate in emergency response teams and any other safety or health group established by the site.
• Participate in all required HSE trainings and educations.

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

• Minimum a diploma or bachelor’s degree in agronomy or 5-year experience in seed production.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Results focused with ability to work on ow n initiative.
• Good organizational skills.
• Strong teamwork development capability (flexibility to work across the areas and positively influence others).
• Establish clear direction.
• Effective and timely decision making.
• Fluent in English.
• Excellent MS Office software (Excel, E-mail, Word, Project etc.).

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Role purpose

•  The Market Development Representative will utilize their expertise in applied field research and agronomic sciences to provide technical support to a selected geography and Crop.
•  This includes execution of the field-testing program which utilizes Research and Development protocols to support key business drivers for all facets of the region -including Seed, Trait, Biologicals, Crop Protection, and Climate digital tools.
•  Local field research identifies customer value of new technology and identifies solutions for current technical needs with commercial portfolio.
•  The Market Development Representative are responsible for knowledge transfer, demonstration and education of the product and system recommendations to the Market Development Agronomist.

Key responsibilities and tasks

•  Responsible for the execution and localization of the MD testing program and trials under farmer conditions in order to validate the technologies and solutions:
•  Responsible for the Implementation of field protocols including treatments, site assignments and data collection.
•  Support the development and validation of field protocols.
•  Responsible for the implementation of protocols including treatments, site assignments and data collected.
•  Create customer pull by developing, positioning and/or testing new hybrids, CP programs, traits and/or systems.
•  Responsible for building confidence and competence in our internal Market Development
•  Agronomist by training on our portfolio, products and agronomic information.
•  Act as Technical Lead for New Commercial offerings in Seed, Trait, Biologicals and Crop Protection for local geography.
•  Drive the safety agenda.
•  Responsible for the implementation stewardship and adhere to company polices ensuring all conditions of buffers, isolation zones, seed logs, harvest disposition 
•  Responsible for the value proposition development of customized agronomic solutions for the key crops in area of responsibility to support sales and business growth targets.
•  Integrates and incorporates new products into agronomic systems and make recommendations on adjustments to cropping systems
•  Build profile as technical expert in territory
•  Assistance in product performance issues.
•  Writing of relevant articles and information brochures.
•  Build and maintain relationship with researchers from academic and research institutions.
•  Responsible for developing a development strategy for the area of responsibility. 

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

•  MSc degree in Ag/Life Sciences or related discipline or BSc Degree with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in agricultural research.
•  Organizes and execute a high quality assigned field research trial program
•  Has relationships with and is recognized as a subject expert by internal and external stakeholders, i.e., academics, community organizations, licensees, R&D, sales/marketing, media.
•  Good working knowledge of Crop Protection Industry and Seed Business  
•  Excellent relationship and team skills
•  Understanding of implications of actions on the achievement of BCS short term and long-term objectives.  
•  Advanced written, verbal, and presentation skill set  
•  Excellent organization and time management
•  Proactive partner with sales to exceed business targets
•  Intermediate level of English speaking.

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Role purpose

This key role will lead/direct and coordinate all aspects of foundation seed plant/processing and dryer operations. This includes, but is not limited to, coordination and planning with the field operational team, the receival of raw wet seed, sorting, drying, processing, fumigation and storage of foundation seed in order to meet internal, external and legal quality and volume demands as laid out by the business and industry.

Key emphasis will be placed on achieving daily, weekly and yearly production goals as required by the business while producing high quality products within a safe work environment.
Key responsibilities and tasks

• In collaboration with the Foundation Plant and Field Operations Lead and the larger operations team, plan and control all plant and drying operations throughout the year.
• Manage production personnel, equipment and all other resources, to obtain maximum efficiencies thereof.
• Plan and execute efficient resource allocation to support that a shift working system is established and managed during times of peak production for the plant and dryer production activities.
• Close coordination with the field operations team to ensure the smooth transition and efficient flow of raw product to ensure optimal resource and equipment utilization is achieved.
• Develop and manage an annual processing plan to ensure timely supply of seed is achieved to meet both internal and external customer demands.
• Continuously review and manage production plans and schedules and allocate resources, human and equipment, accordingly, to ensure production targets are met.
• Identify and report KPI’s on the applicable TIER meetings and ensure the measurement and analysis thereof for all responsible areas to ensure daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals are met.
• Pro-actively identify positive and negative trends of KPI`s and react on them accordingly to ensure optimal resource utilization.
• In collaboration with the Warehouse Manager, plan and control inventory at all levels of product stages up to the dispatching of foundation seed to growers.
• Effectively plan for and manage all consumables for all the areas of responsibility and in collaboration with the production administrator, ensure timely procurement thereof.
• Responsible to ensure that all produced seed is correctly labeled to not only ensure that full product traceability is achieved, but also meets the necessary internal Bayer, external and regulatory standards, inclusive but not limited to SANSOR Certification requirements.
• Ensure a robust maintenance system for all responsible areas of operations, inclusive of the equipment and facilities, is well developed, established and executed to ensure preventative and annual maintenance is done in an effective and timely manner to ensure compliance and prevent unforeseen breakdowns.
• Responsible for the planning, execution and control of all responsible operational budgets for all areas of responsibility to ensure a cost-effective production environment.
• Responsible and accountable for the full cycle of on-site chemical handling. This includes the management thereof from procurement, safe handling, safe storage and safe disposal thereof in the correct way.
• Responsible and accountable for the management of all matters related good stewardship practices inclusive of the handling of regulated material.
• In collaboration with the necessary stakeholders, ensure that seed samples are taken at the correct stages and in the correct manner as a responsible certified seed sampler.
• In collaboration with Process Engineer and Engineering Team, execute and support Capex projects in all areas of responsibility.
• Actively participate in Regional and Global Optimization working groups and networks where best practices are shared across regional and global production networks.
• Provide leadership regarding the Bayer Quality Management processes and ensure proper communication with all relevant stakeholders regarding potential improvement opportunities and matters of concern throughout, but not limited to, areas of responsibility.
• Responsible and accountable for all applicable QMS and OnePSS standards and procedures in all responsible areas.
• Actively engage and encourage a continuous improvement culture through the OnePSS platform and CAPA management.
• Maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements, ethical standards and human rights throughout all areas of responsibility.
• Provide technical knowledge for processes and equipment to obtain optimal performance of equipment.
• Recommend and implement measures to improve productivity, performance, product quality, methods, working conditions and efficiencies.
• Encourage team participation and involvement in all ongoing projects
• Encourage team members to develop technical skills on applicable equipment to support the continuous skills and capability development program.
• This may require equipment specialists to do training or have team members cross collaborate across various manufacturing sites.
• Ensure sufficient and high skilled seasonal or part time labor is recruited through a third-party labor broker.
• Identify training and development needs of responsible teams and
• pursue the effective execution thereof in collaboration
• Develop a high-performance culture within the broader team by engaging, coaching and developing team members, and by driving accountability and ownership at all levels.
• Keep leadership at all levels informed of all matters affecting morale and safety of employees.
• Actively engage and drive employee engagement within direct team and within the larger organization through continuous employee engagement efforts.
• Address employee concerns and maintains good communication with plant personnel.
• Attract and retain top talent, leverage and value individual differences and manage work teams effectively.

HSE responsibilities

• Take full HSE responsibility and accountability for the areas of responsibility.
• Ensure all staff adhere to HSE policies, procedures and rules, have been trained on and are fully demonstrated and adhered to in the work environment.
• Participate in all required HSE trainings and educations.
• Be continuously aware of safety and health conditions within the work area and assist in the identification and reporting of incidents and hazards.
• Provide safety information to employees as needed and requested inclusive of monthly Safety Meetings and HSE Management Reviews.
• Ensure all employees and contractors are issued, and wearing the correct personal protective equipment required for their tasks.
• Take part in the investigation of incidents or accidents and provide recommendations to prevent recurrences.
• LOTO – Do physical spot checks to ensure that the procedure is followed.
• Carry out machine inspections to ensure no machines are safe to operate; for example, that all moving parts are covered with proper guards.
• Evaluate forklift drivers and cherry picker drivers annually.
• Ensure monthly and annually HSE checklists that assigned to you, are done.
• Lead and actively participate in the reviewing of JSA’s and Risk
• Assessments within areas of responsibility.
• Participate in Tier meetings, monthly HSE Meetings and Management
• Review meetings.
• Ensure safe and orderly working environments are maintained throughout areas of responsibilities.
• Take part and ensure sufficient resources are available for Industrial Hygiene surveys.
• Act as the emergency coordinator during emergency situations, including practice drills and inform the emergency teams as needed.
• Be fully aware of emergency phone numbers and emergency teams.

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

• SANSOR certified seed sampler.
• Extensive ISO9001 experience.
• Exposure to ISO45001 will be very beneficial.
• Strong Leadership and Management skills (Cross Functional & Cultural).
• Good Interpersonal, Communication, Organizational and Training skills.
• Strong teamwork (Flexibility to work across areas and positively influencing others).
• Results orientated with ability to work on own initiative and under pressured timelines.
• Establish clear direction and decisions making in a timely manner.
• Innovation and digitalization oriented.
• Ability to manage ambiguity.
• Fluent in English. Any other language proficiency will be very beneficial.
• Excellent MS Office software (Excel, E-mail, Word, Project etc.

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Purpose of the role

•  Responsible to support day-to-day operations of Campaign Activation and Branding team in South Africa
•  Promotional items sourcing and development
•  Summarising TSM and ASM plans
•  Cataloguing of promotional items as well as distribution thereof
•  Event support for product launches, GTM events and farmer’s days
•  Competitor campaign tracking

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

•  Compiling marketing material and mock-ups
•  Summarizing ASM plans and activities
•  Setting up and attending events/ farmers days
•  Responsible for managing marketing material and rebooking in of branding after events
•  Responsible for cataloguing warehouse and store room stock 
•  Support in maintaining of the campaign activation calendar aligned with GTM events and GTM calendar
•  Event support for farmer’s days, product launches and GTM events
•  Promotional item request handling and distribution
•  Promotional item sourcing, sample development 
•  Campaign element sourcing
•  Campaign handout development and distribution 
•  Field visits and discussion with the commercial team 
•  Support to local team with planning of events and marketing teams to South Africa 
•  Procurement, Smartbuy and payment support 
•  Ensuring branding guidelines are followed on presentations, branding projects and collaborative branding campaigns
•  Responsible for keeping the sharepoint and teams site up to date with the latest product presentations and key information
•  Ensuring the Bayer app and website contain the latest information and correct information pertaining to contact information and products as set out by the GTM teams
•  Competitor adverts, campaign and activity capturing and reporting
•  Support to the Market funding initiatives such as the development of the Bayer Loyalty Program
•  General support to the campaign activation team during events

Qualifications, Skills and Competencies

•  Good Microsoft Office skills (Excel / Power Point / Word) a prerequisite. Specific experience with MS Excel and MS PowerPoint is key                                                
•  Highly motivated, creative, dynamic and well organized.
•  Excellent communication skills.
•  Fluent in English, oral and written, is required.
•  Proficiency in Afrikaans will be seen as a positive
•  Customer centric and market oriented.
•  Experience with project planning and execution
•  Ability to prioritize multiple tasks with associated deadlines for deliverable results.
•  Proven ability to work well in teams
•  Ability to work well across both commercial and smallholder farmer markets

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Role purpose

• To ensure compliance to quality requirements on release of medicine for sale in line with GMP and Bayer Policies, Directives and SOPs. 
•  Maintain the local Bayer Quality System, in line with Global Bayer Policies, Directives and SOP’s.
•  Collaborate with Local Regulatory Affairs, to ensure continuous supply of compliant medicines to our market.
•  Deputizes as Country Quality Head in the absence of the CQH

Key responsibilities and tasks

•  Ensure adherence to the Bayer Quality System, through SOP’s, Directives, etc.
•  Ensure compliance to quality requirements on release of medicine for sale in line with GMP and Bayer Policies, Directives and SOPs, i.e., Operational responsibility for the local release of Bayer products marketed in the Southern Africa region.
•  Audit third party contractors; supports the CQH in ensuring quality oversight for 3rd party business, incl. Quality Assurance Agreements (QAAs) and GMP/GDP audits.
•  Support CQH in conducting Self-Inspections.
•  Ensures appropriate standards & processes at local warehouse, transportation, and contract manufacturing (incl. repackaging, relabeling activities, QC Laboratories) by evaluating quality systems that our suppliers, vendors and other GxP service providers follow in relation to Bayer’s requirements or the respective country quality or GMP requirements.
•  Conduct GMP / GDP Training for personnel within Bayer.
•  Collaborates with the Responsible Pharmacist and QA Manager/CQH in ensuring correct deviation management, according to global QMS (e.g., temperature deviations due to transportation)
•  Executes local change management.
•  Manages product technical complaints, counterfeits & Quality-related issues; and is part of the local Product Quality and Safety Committee of all medicines within Bayer.
•  Establish and maintain effective relationships with Bayer colleagues, healthcare professionals, third party service providers and Regulatory Authorities.
•  Perform CQH functions as required in the absence of CQH; acts as Deputy Country Quality Head.
•  Plan, coordinate and execute audit plans, in the role as Audit Program Manager, as well as Supplier Qualification activities (Database for Qualified Suppliers).
•  Carry out day to day operational functions to assist CQH with Consumer Health quality requirements.
•  Caretake Analytical Method Transfer activities between originator and local testing laboratories.

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

•  Minimum: Pharm Degree
•  Minimum: 3 - 5 years’ experience in Quality Assurance work prior to appointment
•  Registered Pharmacist
•  Good communication skills and fluency in English
•  Organizational and administrative skills
•  Good analytical, organizing and communication skills
•  Good Computer literacy
•  Commercial awareness, good project management skills and an ability to adapt to changing priorities
•  Knowledge of national and regional pharmaceutical regulatory requirements