Senior Vice President of Research

Senior Vice President of Research

About Loam

At Loam, we have the earth in our hands. As a team of scientists, farmers, and entrepreneurs, we are on a mission to improve the world's farmland and address climate change. By developing microbial technology, we aim to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and build carbon in agricultural soils. Our goal is to help farming businesses prosper by boosting yield, enhancing soil health, and enabling access to carbon markets.

As a fast-paced and multidimensional startup, Loam offers a supportive and diverse workplace where every team member is encouraged to learn and grow beyond their area of expertise. Regardless of the role, everyone at Loam shares one job: to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it stably in farmer's soils.

This is more than just a job — this is our life’s work.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly qualified Senior Vice President of Research to lead our scientific endeavours and help us drive the company's growth in the agricultural biologicals sector. The Senior Vice President of Research will take responsibility for identifying opportunities to develop new products and improve existing product lines, while also continually improving R&D functional capabilities. They will be a key member of Loam’s global leadership team where they will shape the company's scientific vision and strategy. This position requires a leader who possesses broad scientific expertise, has an established track record of project management, and can effectively grow, develop and manage cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and implement a comprehensive R&D strategy aligned with current and future R&D deliverables, the company's long-term objectives, market trends, and customer needs. Drive innovation, high quality execution, and scientific excellence across all stages of research and development.
• Team Management: Lead, develop and inspire a multidisciplinary team of scientists, researchers, and technical professionals. Foster a collaborative and high-performance culture that encourages teamwork, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and delivery of quality research.
• Portfolio Management: Build and maintain a portfolio of research projects and related functional capabilities that reliably deliver insights and innovations for Loam and its key stakeholders. Manage the research portfolio, including prioritisation, evaluation and resource allocation. Oversee the planning (functional resources and milestone deliveries) and high quality execution of R&D contributions to cross functional projects.
• Delivering Research: Provide and/or enable technical guidance and expertise in the design and execution of experiments, field trials, and data analysis. Ensure all research activities, outcomes and metadata are properly documented and recorded in databases and appropriate repositories. Coordinate preparation of technical dossiers and reports at a standard commensurate with peer reviewed journal publication to communicate research outcomes.
• Collaboration and Partnerships: Stay abreast of industry advancements, emerging technologies, and market trends to identify potential collaborations and investment opportunities. Cultivate and manage strategic partnerships and collaborations with leading academic institutions, research organisations, collaborating partners and industry stakeholders.
• Budget and Resource Management: Develop and manage the research budget aligned with delivery of our short-term and long-term goals, ensuring efficient allocation of resources and optimal utilisation of funds. Monitor and report on key performance indicators and metrics to measure the effectiveness and progress of research activities.
• Intellectual Property: Collaborate with legal and intellectual property teams to foster robust efforts to capture IP opportunities that protect the company's innovative technologies and ensure compliance with applicable patents, trademarks, and regulatory requirements while optimising IP value at Loam. Provide leadership in development and fostering of proactive IP strategies.
• Thought Leadership: Represent the company in scientific conferences, industry forums, and stakeholder engagements. Act as a thought leader and spokesperson, promoting the company's scientific achievements, technological advancements, and commitment to sustainability. Draw on inputs from scientific, industry and public interactions to drive innovation and insights across Loam.

Requirements

About You

• Ph.D. in a related scientific discipline (e.g., Agriculture, Plant Science, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Soil Science, etc.).
• Excellent leadership skills, with the demonstrated ability to function in a fast-paced uncertain environment with minimal supervision.
• Passionate about delivering world-changing research with a global impact on climate change.
• Experience as a successful team leader in commercial research and development.
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate high quality project planning, related functional planning, milestone tracking and R&D team execution.
• Demonstrated ability to translate scientific discoveries into commercial products and technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to partner internally and externally.
• Demonstrated ability to convey complex scientific concepts to a range of diverse audiences.
• Experience in intellectual property management and technology transfer.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a passion for sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship.

Benefits

• Opportunity to lead a rapidly growing team at the forefront of a key area emerging area of innovation for agriculture and environment
• Opportunity to play a key role in the Leadership Team of a fast-growing start-up with many opportunities for career advancement and impact on the company and its stakeholders (the world)
• Work alongside leading scientists and innovators in an international organisation
• Enjoy an inclusive and supportive culture
• Custom professional development package
• Competitive package on offer, including base salary, benefits and ESOP