About Syngenta

At Syngenta Crop Protection, we're pioneering solutions that safeguard global food security while championing sustainable agriculture. As a world market leader headquartered in Switzerland, we empower farmers with innovative crop protection technologies that defend against nature's toughest challenges. We unite advanced science with digital solutions to develop intelligent crop protection that maximizes yields while minimizing environmental impact. Join our mission of revolutionizing plant protection from seed to harvest.

ROLE OVERVIEW

We're seeking a strategic and technical leader to focus on accelerating our New Product Introduction (NPI) pipeline across South Africa. The main objectives of the role are:

• Speed up time-to-market for selected priority products across product lines, including Disease Control, Herbicides, Insecticides, Seedcare and Biologicals.
• Influence and coordinate changes in ways of working to remove bottlenecks, improve decision speed and increase development efficiency.
• Lead cross-functional acceleration initiatives with Crop Protection Development (CPD), Product Biology, Regulatory, Project Management, Marketing, Commercial Units and Regional teams.
• Ensure profiling, registration support, Strong internal consultancy to ensure the timely technical launch platform implementation and country implementation plans are aligned to critical milestones.
• Identify opportunities to simplify development plans, prioritize key studies, use data more effectively and apply digital tools where they can accelerate delivery.
• Provide consolidated technical input to regional portfolio and Portfolio Leadership Team (PLT) forums to support faster, better-informed decisions.

Main Accountabilities

• Acceleration Strategy: Define and drive the acceleration approach for selected priority NPI projects across product lines ZA, ensuring clear focus on value, speed and quality of delivery.
• Time-to-Market Delivery: Identify, prioritize and remove technical, regulatory, development and operational bottlenecks that delay product advancement from profiling to launch readiness.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Coordinate Product Biology, Regulatory, Project Management, Marketing, Commercial and Regional teams to align priorities, resources, timelines and decision points.
• Technical and Market Readiness: Ensure robust technical positioning, trial evidence, registration support and launch platforms are available on time to support successful commercialization.
• Digital and Data Enablement: Promote the use of data, digital tools and improved planning processes to accelerate technical decisions and increase development efficiency.
• Business Partnership: Serve as a trusted partner to PLTs, Commercial Units and regional leadership by providing clear recommendations, risk assessment and progress visibility for priority NPI projects.
• Communication and Governance: Provide transparent reporting on milestones, risks, trade-offs and decisions required to keep projects on their critical path.
• Compliance, Safety and Continuous Improvement: Uphold Syngenta standards for safety, stewardship, compliance and technical integrity while continuously improving NPI processes and ways of working.

Overarching Accountabilities

• Accelerate delivery across a complex portfolio with multiple product lines, countries and stakeholders.
• Identify bottlenecks, simplify plans and keep priority NPI projects on their critical path.
• Align technical, regulatory, project, commercial and regional teams without direct authority.
• Balance speed, technical quality, compliance and commercial relevance in decision making.
• Effectively communicate of risks, trade-offs, milestones and decisions required to senior stakeholders.

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & CAPABILITIES

Critical qualification & experience

• Bachelor’s degree (MSc degree preferred) in Agriculture related qualification or equivalent
• 15+ years of experience in crop protection or product development
• Solid experience managing or coordinating product development projects across functions and geographies
• Experience identifying critical path activities, risks and mitigation actions for product advancement.
• Experience working with external collaborators, country teams and regional stakeholders.
• Proven track record in a research, development, technical or portfolio environment.
• Digital and data experience will be an added advantage.

Critical knowledge  

• Strategic thinking on how data can drive more effective and efficient product development decisions.
• Agronomist, crop protection scientist or equivalent with strong technical understanding across crop protection product lines.
• Very good understanding of product development, technical validation, registration requirements and launch readiness.
• Strong knowledge of Syngenta and competitor products, technologies and market dynamics across relevant portfolios.
• Understanding of trialing, protocol design, data interpretation and critical evidence needed for technical positioning.
• Understanding of R&D, CPD and commercial processes involved in moving products from concept to launch.
• Leadership and teamwork in a multicultural, matrix environment.