Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization based in Decorah, Iowa focused on conserving and promoting America's culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations. Do you love seeds and seeing them grow and flourish? Do you love organizing, making decisions, and finishing tasks? Do you have experience being a positive energetic supervisor? If so, Seed Savers Exchange is seeking a Seed Bank Manager to join our team and help curate and steward a plant collection of over 20,000 open-pollinated varieties. The ideal candidate should have experience in plant science, horticulture, botany, or agronomy, museum studies and experience stewarding or curating a collection.

Primary Role:

The Seed Bank Manager will oversee collection inventory, seed viability and health, and the annual regeneration program for the Seed Savers Exchange Seed Bank.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Prioritize and schedule varieties for annual regenerations onsite and offsite 
• Assess inventory and prescribe methods to determine collection priorities
• Assist Preservation Director to develop crop stewardship plans
• Ensure purity of varieties grown for regeneration by scouting for and roguing off-types in the field and in inventory packets
• Assess and identify accession integrity
• Oversee packaging of seed inventory including assigning seed harvests to appropriate packets
• Prioritize accessions for seed germination tests
• Prioritize accessions to reaccession and deaccession
• Conduct pathology tests on seed crops including ELISA tests for lettuce and squash

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Supervise Seed Bank Germination Technician and Seed Bank Inventory Technician
• Supervise volunteers, interns, and work-study students

Internal-Department Responsibilities: 

• Collaborate with Seed Histories team to accept new donations
• Assist with field work, seed packaging, seed pulling, and distributions as needed
• Assist Seed Lab team with annual corn hand-pollination program

External-Department Responsibilities:

• Work with Marketing and Communications team to write compelling articles and blogs
• Represent Seed Savers Exchange at on-site and off-site events, conferences, and workshops
• Serve on interdepartmental committees as needed

Skills:

• Strong analytical and creative problem solving skills
• Proven experience working with limited supervision
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and time-management skills
• Ability to prioritize competing short-term and long-term projects and tasks
• Excellent attention to detail and strong organizational skills
• Positive attitude and excellent teamwork skills
• Flexibility and ability to balance workload

Qualifications:

• 2-3 years of experience in plant science field such as horticulture, botany, plant pathology, or agronomy
• Experience curating a collection in a professional environment
• Experience working in a supervisory level position
• Knowledge of seed biology or physiology
• Demonstrated record of successfully working independently and as part of a collaborative team

Physical Requirements: 

• Ability to sit and stand for long periods
• During field work, ability to work in temperature extremes
• Able to lift 25 pounds

Benefits:

• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Long Term Disability and Life Insurance
• Employee Merchandise Discounts
• Health care and retirement benefits. 

Seed Savers Exchange is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to apply. Seed Savers Exchange does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, mental or physical disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation or any other basis prohibited by law.

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