CP P&S Digital Lead Europe in Manchester

Syngenta Crop Protection is a leader in agricultural innovation, bringing breakthrough technologies and solutions that enable farmers to grow productively and sustainably. We offer a leading portfolio of crop protection solutions for plant and soil health, as well as digital solutions that transform the decision-making capabilities of farmers. Our 17,900 employees serve to advance agriculture in more than 90 countries around the world. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and is part of the Syngenta Group.

Our employees reflect the diversity of our customers, the markets where we operate and the communities which we serve. No matter what your position, you will have a vital role in safely feeding the world and taking care of our planet. Join us and help shape the future of agriculture.

We are looking for a Digital Lead to serve as the embedded architectural authority within our Production & Supply (P&S) organization, driving the design, deployment, and adoption of data and analytics solutions, including AI/ML and GenAI initiatives. This hands-on leadership role bridges business strategy and technical execution, translating enterprise architecture blueprints into high-value, real-world implementations. You will coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver solutions aligned with business objectives and customer needs, and lead change management to embed them into daily operations.

Your responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

• Act as the primary Data architect and trusted advisor for the embedded business function, supporting initiatives from ideation through to production.
• Ensure enterprise Data, ML, and AI architecture principles are applied pragmatically to deliver measurable business value.
• Facilitate requirements gathering sessions, design thinking workshops, and validation meetings with P&S leadership and operational teams.
• Partner with business stakeholders, product managers, and engineering teams to understand use cases and constraints.
• Design and document end-to-end data solutions aligned with enterprise standards for data mesh, domain-oriented data products, and AI-aligned data patterns (feature stores, RAG pipelines, inference architectures).
• Create efficient data models (schemas) and optimize SQL queries for high-performance analytics.
• Proactively identify opportunities where data, ML, and AI initiatives can deliver significant business value.
• Own the enablement and deployment of technologies (Databricks, AI, N8N and process intelligence), delivering hands-on training and adoption support to upskill business users.
• Accelerate the data strategy by delivering MVPs and rapidly deploying solutions to generate fast learning and measurable value, leveraging platforms such as Databricks.

Qualifications and required experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or related technical field.
• Solid experience in data & analytics, with at least 5 years in data architecture and engineering roles with focus on designing and implementing enterprise-scale P&S Solutions as well as building enterprise dashboards and analytics solutions (Qlik, Power BI, or similar).
• Exposure to leading cross-functional technical teams in Agile environments.
• Delivered digital products and projects, combining hands-on experience with domain knowledge of manufacturing, logistics, planning or customer service processes gained through close collaboration with operational stakeholders.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and adapting to change (dealing with ambiguity and stakeholder expectation management).
• Understand the main constraints and business objectives which our main stakeholder/business partners operate in.
• Needs to be motivated, creative and curious, with a customer-centric mindset.
• Able to engage with business and technical leaders with confidence and integrity.
• Experience designing and implementing data integration pipelines (Alteryx, SnapLogic, or modern ETL/ELT platforms) and SAP S/4HANA functional knowledge (PP, MM, SD, WM modules) are desirable.
• Databricks certification and/or Agile/Scrum certification are advantageous.

There’s a preference for the role to be based in Manchester, but other Syngenta locations within the UK can be considered.

What we offer:

• Extensive benefits package including a generous pension scheme, bonus scheme, private medical & life insurance.
• Up to 31.5 days annual holiday.
• Learning culture and wide range of training options.
• Good onsite facilities.

Syngenta has been ranked as a top 5 employer and number 1 in agriculture by Science Journal. Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.