About Us

Pluton Biosciences is an AgTech startup developing microbial products that provide critical crop nutrition, enrich soils, and support profitable, sustainable farming practices. Our team values community, collaboration, and innovation as we scale emerging biotechnologies into commercial products with meaningful impact for growers.

Position Summary

As a member of Pluton’s executive leadership team, the Director of Agronomy & Product Development will set strategy and lead execution for greenhouse and field testing that advances pipeline candidates toward commercialization. The Director will refine product concepts and stage-gate criteria; design and implement milestone-based trial roadmaps; allocate budgets and resources; manage program risk; and ensure rigorous, reproducible execution. This is a hands-on leadership role: the Director will establish protocols and SOPs, oversee internal trials and external collaborators, own data integrity and statistical analysis, and translate findings into clear go/no-go/iterate decisions, product fit recommendations, and inputs to regulatory and commercial plans. This position is 100% in-person and located in St. Louis, MO.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Portfolio Leadership

• Define the end-to-end testing strategy from growth-chamber and greenhouse through multi-location field programs aligned to product milestones, regulatory needs, and commercial objectives.
• Translate target product profiles into hypothesis-driven, statistically powered protocols covering crop response, placement, timing, persistence, and compatibility.
• Develop seasonal plans; allocate budget and staffing; manage risk and contingencies across sites and seasons.
• Present strategy, progress, risks, and capital needs to the executive team and Board.

Controlled Environment Testing, Field Execution & Analysis

• Establish and maintain SOPs for greenhouse/growth chamber/field protocols (design, media, crop/plant, environment, phenotyping, sampling, storage/archiving, QA/QC).
• Run and/or supervise greenhouse, growth chamber, and field studies to quantify product impacts on plant and soil health.
• Lead field operations: site selection, plot layouts, equipment readiness, agronomic practices, and application methods across diverse soils and management systems.
• Manage relationships and contracts with CROs, grower-cooperators, and academic partners; ensure compliance with site and regulatory requirements.
• In partnership with Computational Biology team, own data integrity and metadata standards, ensure scientific rigor and statistical validity across experimental designs and analyses; analyze multi-location datasets, interpret large, complex datasets and deliver timely, decision-grade reports and strategic insights to internal stakeholders.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Microbiology Discovery, Cultivation, and Formulation teams to link lab variables to field performance and accelerate iteration cycles.
• Champion best practices in experimental design, data quality, and reproducibility.
• Collaborate with Regulatory to ensure study designs and outputs meet regulatory requirements.

People, Safety & Compliance

• Build and mentor a small agronomy team (Research Associates, interns); set objectives, optimize workflows, and oversee training and performance standards.
• Ensure adherence to worker safety practices and required licenses/permits.
• Uphold ethical research standards and robust data governance.

Qualifications

Required

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Agronomy, Soil Science, Plant Physiology, or related field.
• 7+ years leading statistically rigorous greenhouse and field programs in fertilizers, biologicals (ideally live microbial products for agricultural use), or crop protection.
• Knowledge of relevant agronomic practices to ensure product fit within current crop systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in experimental design and multi-location analysis.
• Proven capability with plot-scale operations and execution under variable conditions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to defend methods and conclusions for executive and external audiences.

Preferred

• Experience with microbial inoculants/biostimulants, nitrogen use efficiency trials, fertigation systems, and soil health metrics (e.g., mineralization rates, tissue/soil N, POM/MAOM).
• Commercial experience with direct grower interaction, knowledge of benefits and limitations of various plant nutrition practices, including microbial products.
• Familiarity with formulation effects on field performance of live microbial products.
• Network of CROs and cooperators in row-crop and specialty-crop geographies.

Working Conditions

• Field work in variable weather; ability to lift 50 lb and operate/oversee small-plot equipment.
• Some travel, mostly during field trial season.

Compensation & Benefits

Competitive salary, equity participation, and benefits commensurate with experience.

Equal Opportunity

Pluton Biosciences is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to legally protected characteristics