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EarthOptics · 14 hours ago

Associate Director of Soil Science

Emeryville, CA

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level, Lead/Staff, Director/Executive

$122K/yr - $139K/yr

6+ years exp

EarthOptics is a leading soil information company focused on revolutionizing agriculture through innovative technologies. The Associate Director of Soil Science will lead lab operations and improve soil chemistry and carbon analysis while collaborating with cross-functional teams to enhance data quality and lab automation.

AgricultureAgTechInformation TechnologyReal Time

No H1B

Responsibilities

End-to-end ownership of lab throughput and turnaround time (TAT) across all soil chemistry and carbon programs

Accountability for meeting commercial SLAs, seasonal demand spikes, and peak-volume periods

Oversee daily lab operations across soil chemistry and carbon analysis, including sample preparation, elemental analysis, and nutrient profiling

Forecasting and planning for weekly/monthly sample volume

Develop seasonal staffing plans, including temporary labor, cross-training and overtime strategy

Own, document and continually improve workflows for sample receiving, processing priorities, chain-of-custody tracking, and shipping/receiving of samples

Uphold and enforce a safety-first culture, including appropriate PPE use, equipment safety, and compliance with USDA/APHIS, environmental, and other regulations without throughput disruption

Partner with hardware automation engineers and software teams to deploy, maintain, and optimize lab automation solutions

Design and oversee robust automated QC frameworks for all soil assays, including controls, rerun criteria, and QC checks within LIMS and analytics tools

Monitor instrument performance, throughput metrics, and error rates, using dashboards and data analysis to drive continuous improvement initiatives

Ensure calibration, maintenance, and troubleshooting plans are in place for all key instruments (e.g., dry combustion elemental analyzers, MIR spectrometers, ICP-OES, FIA, and other soil chemistry instruments)

Collaborate with Data Science and Software teams to improve data pipelines, from raw instrument output to final client-ready reports and internal model inputs

Act as a champion for responsible use of AI tools within the Soil Science team, demonstrating how to use AI for workflow automation, documentation, SOP drafting, experiment planning, and exploratory data analysis

Build and maintain lightweight automations (e.g., scripts, AI-assisted templates, or workflow tools) that reduce manual data wrangling, reporting, and scheduling overhead for the team

Train and mentor team members on using AI tools effectively (and within company guidelines) to improve personal productivity, decision-making, and communication

Work closely with the CTO to translate company strategy and commercial demand into lab capacity plans, staffing models, and capital needs

Partner with Engineering and Hardware teams to ensure lab workflows and instrumentation align with field sensing and digital products

Collaborate with Product and Commercial teams to understand client expectations, interpret lab data, and improve the clarity of reports delivered to customers

Contribute to R&D programs that develop and test novel soil protocols, methods, and assays, bringing promising innovations into production

Develop and manage budgets for assigned lab functions, ensuring efficient use of resources while meeting throughput and quality goals

Qualification

Soil ScienceSoil ChemistryLaboratory OperationsLab AutomationData Quality ControlElemental AnalyzersICP InstrumentsLaboratory Information Management SystemsBigQuery/SQLAI ToolsLeadership SkillsCommunication SkillsProblem-Solving Skills

Required

Bachelor's degree or higher in soil science, soil chemistry, agronomy, environmental science, chemistry, or a closely related field required

6+ years of experience in soil chemistry, carbon analysis, or related laboratory operations, including at least 2–3 years in a leadership or supervisory role

Experience managing high-volume laboratory operations in an agricultural, environmental, or similar industry strongly preferred

Hands-on experience with elemental analyzers, spectroscopic or ICP-based instruments, and other core soil lab equipment

Strong leadership and people management skills, including experience supervising lab teams and seasonal workforces in a fast-paced, high-throughput environment

Deep knowledge of soil chemistry and/or carbon analysis, including techniques such as dry combustion, inorganic/organic carbon determination, and nutrient analyses (e.g., pH, buffering capacity, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, micronutrients)

Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and improve lab workflows, with a focus on automation, throughput, and quality

Proficiency with laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and related software for sample tracking, QC, and reporting

Strong quantitative skills and comfort working with large datasets (BigQuery/SQL), including use of statistical and visualization tools to monitor performance and quality

Advanced user of AI tools for personal productivity and lab operations (e.g., AI-assisted scripting, workflow automation, document generation, and data exploration), with a demonstrated track record of creating and maintaining practical automations

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex data and technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Proven ability to multitask, prioritize, and remain effective in a fast-paced environment with changing demands across multiple sites

Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to troubleshoot equipment, processes, and data anomalies under time constraints