Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe's growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.
As the Agricultural Biologicals (AgBio) Engineer 1, Greenhouse Technician in Controlled Environment Platform (CEP), you will support Ginkgo's organism engineering programs by coordinating and executing the delivery of uniform, high throughput plants for the development of agricultural products in the area of Plant Sciences in the Controlled Environment Platform group. This position contributes to the diverse operations of our state-of-the-art greenhouse and growth chambers by delivering on daily activities and proactively communicating with internal partners to ensure the success of Ginkgo's Agricultural Biologicals Platform. Through providing your expertise in plant production and controlled environment operations in our R&D function, your role will be critical in assessing organisms to develop and drive agricultural standards and practices around the world.
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Note: As part of the Plant Sciences team, this role will share occasional weekend and holiday coverage responsibilities, including manual troubleshooting of automated greenhouse systems.
Responsibilities
In planta assay enablement:
- Fill the pots using the automated pot-filler and bale breaker
Plant, irrigate, fertilize and provide excellent care to produce uniform high quality plant material
Provide horticultural support, including 20+ unique support types to ensure successful assay execution (e.g., plant staking, pollination, raising grow lights, etc.)
Utilize plant request LIMS to deliver on daily greenhouse and growth chamber tasks
Use company vehicle to transfer materials within the West Sacramento sites
Apply pesticides, as needed, in compliance with state and federal regulations
- Program climate monitoring systems and other automated tools (including Argus, Conviron, HOBO)
Maintain fertigation system, including performing equipment maintenance/calibration, mixing stock solutions, and facilitating fertigation solution quality testing
Schedule, install, remove, and sanitize irrigation components
Sweep, power wash and perform general cleaning tasks of greenhouse and growth chambers
Maintain a clean and safe working environment
Report and troubleshoot potential horticultural or operational problems
- High school degree or equivalent
- 1 year of controlled environment experience required
- Valid driver's license
- Can work in conditions up to 95 degrees
- Can lift 50 lbs.
- Willing to learn to operate a skid steer
- Can obtain QAC within 6 months of starting position
- Ability to follow all safety procedures
- Proficient in Google Suite
- Willing to work occasionally on weekends/holidays
- Desire to learn and grow within greenhouse technician role
- Customer service experience
- Ability to perform mechanical troubleshooting and repairs
- Previous experience working in R&D or agricultural setting
- Experience programming in Argus and Conviron
- Continuous improvement mindset, especially in regards to safety
- Keen observation to detail and strong communication skills
This position is classified as non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the California Labor Code. Employees in non-exempt roles are entitled to overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek or over 8 hours in a workday, at a rate of one and one-half times their regular rate of pay. Additionally, employees are entitled to double-time pay for hours worked over 12 in a workday and for hours worked over 8 on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.
Non-exempt employees are required to accurately record all hours worked and must receive prior approval from their supervisor before working any overtime hours. In accordance with California law, non-exempt employees are also entitled to meal and rest breaks. Employees must take a 30-minute unpaid meal break if they work more than 5 hours in a day, and a second 30-minute unpaid meal break if they work more than 10 hours in a day. Additionally, employees are entitled to a paid 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours worked or major fraction thereof.
To learn more about Ginkgo, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com/press/ or check out some curated press below:
- What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)
- Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)
- Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: 'If we try, we can win' (CNBC)
- Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)
- Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)
- Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)
- The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)
- Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)
- Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)
- Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)
We're developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can - and will - impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it's something we'll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it's critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.
It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.
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