Job Description
KWS is one of the world's leading plant breeding companies. Nearly 5,000 employees in more than 70 countries generated net sales of around €1.68 billion in the fiscal year 2023/2024. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for almost 170 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for sugarbeet, corn, cereals, vegetables, oilseed rape and sunflower. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield for farmers and plants' resistance to diseases, pests and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested more than €300 million last fiscal year in research and development.Program for business-oriented data scientists
The Growing with Data Program is an entry door for ambitious data scientists who are interested in technology and business and have a strong vision on how to pave our way towards a world with more sustainable agriculture.
Join in and solve these challenges with us. KWS spends a large portion of its revenue on research. Drones robotics, IoT and artificial intelligence are being used to increase our data accessibility. Together with new breeding technologies, as genomic selection and genome editing, we are constantly innovating the way we develop new plant varieties to the market, and how we partner with farmers to provide them with the best recommendations. The future of agriculture is already here. Come and be a part of it.
What should you expect during the 2-year program?
You will boost your strategic thinking and influencing skills having the sole responsibility of planning, overseeing, and executing 4 exciting data science projects. The projects will be supported by different teams, giving you the chance to rotate though different KWS business and therefore understand how they operate. You will be in touch and learn how to deal with several types of data. We will also encourage and support you to pursue one of your project rotations abroad in one of the several KWS locations around the world.
Mentors
You will be mentored by the Head of Digital Field technology and Data Analytics whom will support your personal and professional growth.
Training & Development
In addition to the company general onboarding, you will join an exclusive onboarding for Growing with Data program where you will learn how to think strategically, display leadership qualities, manage a project and communicate effectively. You will tour the KWS headquarter as well as our renowned R&D center, and state-of-the-art breeding station's and have a frontline experience by taking part in field work. You will also take part in Franklin Covey's coveted training “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. This important training will lay strong foundations in your life journey and support you in adapting to change and taking full advantage of opportunities coming your way. An special IT initial program is also setup for you to provide all technical background you need about KWS specific tools and digital capabilities.
Graduate CommunityEvery 6 months during project intervals, you will get together with your fellow graduates and spend time sharing trainings, best-practices, meeting KWS leaders, engaging in alumni events and social responsibility projects.
Why are you a good fit for our Growing with Data Program?
- You hold a Master's or MBA in STEM areas correlated to Data Science, Bioinformatics, Statistics or Information Technology
- Working with data is your passion and extracting value out of it is a must
- You have demonstrated leadership potential via academic or extracurricular activities (as taking part in a political or non-profit organization, active membership with a student club, leadership experience in a university/community/work setting and/or engagement in a project).
- You have good knowledge of Python and/or R. Additional knowledge in Viz tools would be a plus (PowerBi, Tableau, Spotfire, Quik).
- You are keen on joining a career in the agricultural industry and looking forward to develop our business.
- This will be your first full-time job after your studies or you are in earlier steps of your corporate career.
- You embrace diversity and had some experience working within cross-functional or multi-national projects. Time spent overseas (to study, or work) is a plus.
- Being fluent in English language is mandatory, any additional languages would be an asset.
- You should be available for full-time work by October 2025 and be available for assessments during January-May 2025.
This is what you can look forward to:
- As a family-run company we are guided by the values of closeness, reliability, foresight and independence - this culture is lived in practice creating thus an open and supportive working environment.
- True to our motto “Make yourself grow”, we support employees' professional and personal development. We ensure an annual budget for additional training courses.
- We offer excellent work equipment (e.g. mobile phone, ergonomic workstations, several monitors, air conditioning, high-end technical equipment, the newest laboratory equipment), a fully-fledged, subsidized canteen and free parking spaces at the KWS location.
- Additionally, we offer an attractive remuneration package, 30 days holiday, mobile working possibilities, capital formation benefits, Christmas and holiday bonuses, childcare allowance and a job bike. We support work-life balance.
Ready to start a new journey with us? Draft up your CV, cover letter, and any relevant certificates and submit them to us in English via our career portal.
Please note: Only applications submitted via our career portal in English including aforementioned documents will be considered.View More