Plant Growth Facilities Manager

Basic Qualifications

• BSc in Biology required with specialization or significant expertise in Plant Science or Horticulture.
• 5+ years of greenhouse experience with a minimum of two years of greenhouse management experience.

Additional Information

In order to be considered for this position, a cover letter and resume must be submitted.

We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.

• All formal written offers will be made by FAS Human Resources.

Position Description

Support of Research and Teaching Using Plants

• Research

• Understands goals of researchers' experiments and advises, trains, and works with researchers to maintain protocols. Establishes and monitors growth parameters and environmental controls, including temperature and photoperiod regimes, supplemental light intensities, growth media selections, fertilizer and watering, and cultural practices. Maintain a diverse teaching collection. May be the primary person responsible for all aspects of plant care for various plant species, large monocultures, and transgenic plant material. Responsible for troubleshooting and remedying problems before they become serious and detrimental to experiments.

• Teaching

• Understand course syllabi and provide plant material to achieve teaching goals.

• Communication - interact with faculty and staff to determine project needs and responsibilities. Communicate policies, plant growth/health, and facility status.

• Training - troubleshoots questions about plants, pests, and plant growth. Acts as a resource person to users regarding growing methods and techniques.

• Pest and Disease Control - assess and diagnose pest control, including conducting applications of chemical pesticides as needed to keep certain plants pest-free. Conducts pesticide applications, maintains spray equipment and pesticide spray log, records, and reports. Establishes and maintains USDA/APHIS permits, records, protocols, and quarantine procedures.

Plant Facilities and Environment

• Greenhouse Expansion

• Will work closely with faculty, FAS Physical Resources, design and engineering teams to ensure that upgraded facilities meet all faculty research and teaching needs.

• Facilities Maintenance

• Works with FAS Physical Resources to maintain, repair, improve, and manage mechanical, environmental, and computer systems of greenhouses and growth chambers. Find and remedy problems before they become serious and detrimental. Supervises the general operation of the Growth Facility and ensures the facility is clean, safe, and operating smoothly. Will maintain Common Garden.

• Emergency Response

• Acts as the primary call-back person on the 24/7 alarm system. Responsible for growth facilities, plants, and contents of facilities during emergencies, including equipment failure, power outage, etc. Promptly communicate facility status to supervisor and users to safeguard experiments and plants.

Growth Facilities Management

• Policies and procedures - will develop, implement, and train staff and users of plant growth facilities in proper protocols, safety procedures, and growth facility policies.

• Budget/Finance - will prepare, track, and maintain budget, ensuring fiscal responsibility while striving to meet the department's goals.

• Inventory - responsible for ordering and maintaining all supplies and equipment to operate growth facilities within budgetary allowances.

• Space- responsible for the space allocation to each research group; maintains space allocation record. Researches and implements web-based space booking tool.

• Safety/Emergency Preparedness - responsible for safety in the growth facilities. Maintains pesticide spray log, label log, records, and reports. Establishes spill procedures. Maintains chemical inventory and records.

Supervision and training

• Supervision- responsible for the supervision of support staff.

• Facility Users - responsible for training all facility users in plant culture and safety procedures.

Job Summary

The Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology of Harvard University seeks a Plant Growth Facilities Manager to oversee, operate and maintain varied and technically complex growth facilities on the Cambridge campus. Working closely with OEB and other Harvard faculty, researchers, and staff under the supervision of the Plant Biology Committee and the Executive Director of Administration, the Plant Growth Facilities Manager will ensure the production of high-quality plants and environments for a full range of research programs and teaching via proper planning, coordination, technical expertise and staff and facility management.

The facilities currently consist of approximately 9,000 square feet of greenhouses, growth chambers, and related workspace, plus outdoor common garden space that support the research and teaching activities of multiple researchers from OEB, MCB and other departments. Our plant research community is vital and diverse in terms of research questions and plant model systems. The Plant Growth Facilities manager will play a critical role in the planned expansion of and investment in our plant growth facilities.