Syngenta is leading science-based agtech company; dedicated to bringing plant potential to life. Each of our 28,000 employees in more than 90 countries work together to solve one of humanity’s most pressing challenges: growing more food with fewer resources. A diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace environment are enablers of our ambition to be the most collaborative and trusted team in agriculture.

Our employees reflect the diversity of our customers, the markets where we operate and the communities which we serve. No matter what your position, you will have a vital role in safely feeding the world and taking care of our planet. Join us and help shape the future of agriculture.

Help drive the invention of safe and sustainable active ingredients through QSAR modelling and data analysis.

The focus area for this role is to provide QSAR, cheminformatics and machine learning modeling support to Crop Protection Research & Development. Working alongside multidisciplinary project teams, your primary responsibility is to evaluate and build predictive models relating chemical structure and/or properties to endpoints relevant to agrochemical research, particularly product safety. With these models, you will help teams to identify high quality compounds with the right balance of properties and inform chemical design and testing strategies. 

Building on your passion for science and innovation, you will join an active network of QSAR experts, specialist modellers and data scientists at Syngenta to champion the use of predictive models and digital thinking. 

 Accountabilities:

• Build predictive (QSAR) models relating chemical structure and/or properties to endpoints relevant for agrochemical research (particularly human safety, human exposure, environmental fate, environmental exposure and ecotoxicology)
• Liaison with functional representatives to understand data and modelling requirements and integrate this into plans for delivery
• Interrogation and curation of data for model building
• Manage and interpret outputs from models including specification, conduct, problem solving, reporting and interpretation for deployment to end users
• Communication of model development, use and limitations to a wide and varied community of end users
• Networking in the Syngenta modeling and data management community to ensure best use of resources and opportunities
• Seek out latest developments in computational technology and in consultation with senior technical experts assesses their potential use to support early stage research
• Give presentations at internal meetings and within the wider scientific and regulatory community, to support the scientific credibility of Syngenta
• Work closely with other members of the Syngenta Product Safety Research Predictive Science team and wider Crop Protection research community to identify QSAR capability gaps and opportunities, and provide input to the  long-term strategy to address these

Critical Experience and Skills:

• A PhD or equivalent experience in cheminformatics or a related field
• Understanding of chemical structure and properties, and an ability to identify the relevant considerations for a particular endpoint
• Knowledge of applied statistical methods for data analysis (univariate and multivariate methods)
• Experience in predictive modelling (such as multiple linear regression, machine learning e.g., SVM, random forest)
• Experience with R and/or python essential (experience with workflow tools such as KNIME, pipeline pilot desirable)
• Ability to communicate across functional boundaries  
• Establish interactions with colleagues based in other locations

Whilst this role offers a competitive base pay, at Syngenta we value total reward which includes the benefits we offer to our employees. We support well-being, offering comprehensive benefits including flexible working, generous holiday entitlement, discretionary bonus scheme, competitive pension scheme, private medical insurance, employee assistance programme.

Benefit highlights:

• Permanent contract
• Good onsite facilities
• Competitive salary and employee benefits
• Collaborative working environment with scientific specialists
• Hybrid working arrangements

This opportunity is available at our Jealott’s Hill Research Centre in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK. Jealott’s Hill site is the focal point for our cross-functional, world-class research into new agrochemicals.

We embrace and encourage diversity, and this is what drives our innovation and lets us outperform the market. https://www.syngenta.com/careers/working-syngenta/diversity-and-inclusion

Please apply online before 23rd June, 2023