Technical Field Operations Lead at SyngentaGroup

Role purpose • Leads field operations delivery, ensuring all trials are executed to a prioritised plan and maintained to a high standard. • Manages, co-ordinates, and prioritises ZA CPD capacity to ensure development trials are executed correctly and efficiently. • Plans and executes ZA CPD Technical and Demonstration trials, aligning resources and timelines to strategic priorities. • Ensures all field operations are conducted in accordance with local audit and HSE requirements, including all equipment used. • Optimises field operation efficiencies and builds internal capacity and capability across the ZA trialling team. • Assists in the delivery of Technical and Demonstration trials in consultation with marketing and sales, including review of protocols for practical execution. • Leads training of the ZA CPD trialling team to ensure all members are equipped and enabled to perform their roles effectively. • Supports product biology with the delivery of technical data for campaigns, NPIs, and business opportunities. • Ensures compliance with HSE standards across all trial sites, fostering a safety-first culture and proactively managing risk. • Builds and maintains strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to support trial delivery and business objectives. • Provides effective line management for all field biologists, covering workload allocation, performance management, coaching, and professional development in line with Syngenta expectationsAccountabilities • Reviews all product biology protocols for commercial viability, practical feasibility, and probability of successful execution. • Provides agronomic support, coaching, and training to the development, product biology, and agronomy teams as required. • Supports the planning and delivery of commercial trials to deepen product understanding and maximise the impact of launches and the broader portfolio on sales and market share. • Manages CRO trials to the same standard as internal trials, ensuring all project requirements are met consistently. (Just fyi our TM’s (PB’s) manage CRO trials as they are the project/study directors) • Sets and maintains the ways of working and national trialling standards across the field biology team, holding all members to a consistently high expectation. • Communicates foreseeable and emerging trial risks or issues proactively, minimising impact on project timelines. • Ensures every trialist has a development plan with clear objectives that drives growth, satisfaction, and team retention. • Maintains active relationships with key industry organisations including Agricultural Research Council, Universities, and CropLife. • Translates demonstration trial outputs and relevant external insights into compelling product stories that support marketing and sales. • Keeps the team current on trialling best practices, with a focus on budget efficiency and productivity. • Builds and maintains strong product knowledge through close collaboration with the product biology team. • Coordinate visits with internal stakeholders (Agronomy, Sales, Marketing) to ensure that the maximum benefit is gained without visits becoming a time constraint for field trialists. • Ensure that all operations under direct control comply with Syngenta Health, Safety & Environmental policies and guidelines as well as any other relevant Syngenta or statutory policies. Report observations and near misses monthly. Continuously promote HSE activitiesCritical success factors & key challenges • Ensure that CPD field biology capacity is managed and communicated to ensure optimization and better utilization. • Ensure that all trialling requirements are met and that all relevant data is communicated to the relevant stakeholders in a timely manner. • Ensure that all audit requirements are always met for e.g. GEP. • Ability to provide strategic technical input for all stakeholders. • Ability to deliver outputs working across a complex range of interfaces. • Ensure that field trialists are trained and supported to ensure that they develop key skills. • Ensure biological elements of projects are kept on their critical paths and are delivered on time and efficiently • Key relationships • Product biology and Data Management teams • Senior Field Scientists and Field Scientists • Commercial Unit ZA • Internal CPD stakeholders