Sr. Scientist: Plant Physiology

Job Details

Reporting Lines

Principal Scientist- Plant Physiology

Job Purpose

The Center of Excellence for Abiotic Resilience and Crop Genomics (ARC-Gen) is a partnership between Silal, the UAE’s leading agri-food and technology company, and Limagrain Vegetable Seeds (LVS), the world leader in Vegetable Seeds. This partnership is aiming to develop a world class research facility in UAE with state-of-the-art capabilities in plant physiology and gene editing, with the ultimate goal of enhancing crops’ ability to withstand extreme conditions such as heat, drought, and salinity.

As a Senior Scientist in Plant Physiology at ARC-Gen, you will participate in the execution and lead research projects in plant physiology to support crop improvement under abiotic stresses. This role involves designing and implementing experiments to understand plant physiological mechanisms and their genetic control, and translating findings into actionable strategies for abiotic resilience improvement in targeted crops.

Your work will contribute directly to global priorities such as food security, sustainable agriculture, and climate resilience.

Key Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Explore, adopt and implement state-of-the-art technologies in plant physiology.

• Lead experimental design and execution to understand plant responses to abiotic stresses.

• Develop and validate physiological assays for traits such as drought, salt or heat tolerance.

• Interpret data to identify physiological traits linked to stress tolerance.

• Partner with other scientific teams to prioritize candidate genes based on physiological impact.

• Develop, validate and execute phenotyping protocols.

• Work closely with experts in other domains (agronomists, (pre-)breeders, molecular and cell biologists, biostatisticians, etc.) to integrate physiological insights into abiotic stress projects.

• Optimize phenotyping protocols.

• Prepare detailed reports and presentations to communicate results to internal teams and end users.

• Participate in collaborations and interact with external partners.

Project Leadership & Management:

• Propose, design, and manage research projects.

• Act as an expert in your domain and collaborate across research areas for timely delivery.

• Drive innovation and continuous improvement to accelerate research processes.

• Ensure efficient transfer of deliverables and know-how to end users.

• Mentor and supervise lab technicians.

Stakeholder Management

Key Internal Stakeholders

Key External Stakeholders

• All Sectors, Departments and Offices

• Any other concerned internal stakeholders as required

• Concerned government, semi-government and private sector entities

• Any other concerned external stakeholders as required.

Required Qualification

Professional Experience

• Ph.D. in Plant Physiology or related field

• Fluent in English

• Professional Experience of a minimum of 8+ Years.
• Demonstrated expertise in Plant Physiology, plant growth and reproduction.
• Deep understanding of Plant Physiology.
• Experience with high-throughput precision phenotyping is a plus.
• Excellent problem-solving and data analysis skills.

Competencies

Technical Competencies

Competency

Proficiency Level

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert