Florida Sugarcane Pasture Mealybug Program Director

Job Description

Job Description

Position Summary

The Florida sugarcane industry is seeking an experienced, field-oriented, and highly accountable Program Director to coordinate the industry response to invasive pasture mealybug (PMB). The Program Director will serve as the central industry point of coordination and accountability for PMB activities affecting Florida sugarcane, while maintaining active working relationships with state, federal, university, interstate, international, and private-sector partners.

A primary responsibility will be ensuring that Florida sugarcane’s immediate, near-term, and long-term needs are clearly defined, assigned to the appropriate organizations, supported with required industry resources, tracked against agreed milestones, and advanced without unnecessary delay.

The Program Director will coordinate PMB initiatives with USDA, FDACS, UF/IFAS, or other independent organizations. The Program Director will represent Florida sugarcane priorities; maintain frequent contact with project leads; document commitments and timelines; identify stalled work; remove industry-side obstacles; escalate unresolved barriers appropriately; and keep industry leadership informed until activities are completed, redirected, or closed.

The successful candidate must combine scientific judgment, commercial-agriculture experience, regulatory awareness, disciplined project management, and persistent external coordination. The Program Director must be comfortable working in the field, analyzing incomplete information, and converting complex technical work into timely operational decisions. This is not solely an academic research position.

Reporting and Governance

The Program Director will report to an Industry Advisory Board with designated representatives from the three sponsoring sugar companies. The Director will prepare and execute an approved work plan and budget, provide concise decision briefs, protect company-confidential information, and maintain independence from vendors and research providers.

Key Responsibilities

· Develop and maintain one integrated Florida sugarcane PMB strategy covering the current crop, planting, ratoon management, scouting, regulatory tools, biological control, foundational research, and long-term IPM.

· Convert industry priorities into projects with clear objectives, owners, budgets, milestones, dependencies, deliverables, and decision dates.

· Serve as the principal day-to-day industry liaison with USDA-ARS, USDA-APHIS, FDACS, UF/IFAS, universities, interstate groups, international collaborators, consultants, and product manufacturers.

· Maintain a comprehensive inventory and status dashboard for all relevant PMB trials, registrations, surveys, grants, biological-control projects, and external research—whether or not funded by industry.

· Ensure Florida priorities are represented in state and national work plans; request timelines, conduct status reviews, identify delays, provide needed industry support, and escalate unresolved barriers appropriately.

· Coordinate field-trial portfolios, including access to trial sites, protocols, controls, assessment schedules, crop-safety observations, agronomic endpoints, data quality, and timely reporting.

· Lead standardized industry scouting and damage-rating systems and oversee digital data capture, dashboards, mapping, remote sensing, and appropriate company access controls.

· Maintain a regulatory matrix for products under consideration and coordinate Section 18, Section 24(c), residue, crop-safety, efficacy, stewardship, and longer-term registration needs.

· Coordinate local, commercial, and foreign biological-control work, including specimen handling, parasitoid identification, quarantine and host-specificity milestones, rearing feasibility, funding, and release planning.

· Develop the program budget and funding pipeline; coordinate grants, trust funds, cooperative agreements, contractor scopes, financial controls, and deliverable verification.

· Prepare regular leadership updates and clearly communicate what is known, preliminary, unknown, recommended, delayed, or awaiting decision.

 

Minimum Qualifications

· Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, biological science, agricultural engineering/economics, business, public administration, program management, or a related discipline.

· At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in commercial agriculture, crop protection, research management, invasive-pest response, commodity programs, regulatory affairs, or a related field.

· Demonstrated success managing complex programs and influencing organizations that do not report directly to the position.

· Experience coordinating growers, researchers, government agencies, consultants, contractors, and private companies.

· Working knowledge of field trials, agricultural operations, data systems, budgets, contracts, schedules, and deliverables.

· Excellent writing, presentation, facilitation, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.

· Ability to travel frequently, work in agricultural field conditions, and operate effectively under urgent and uncertain conditions.

Preferred Qualifications

· Advanced degree and/or Project Management Professional certification.

· Experience in Florida sugarcane, citrus, row crops, or another perennial production system.

· Experience with invasive pests, FIFRA, Section 18, Section 24(c), pesticide stewardship, biological control, quarantine research, or natural-enemy releases.

· Experience managing grants, cooperative agreements, trust funds, reimbursable agreements, or public-private research portfolios.

· Experience working with USDA-ARS, USDA-APHIS, FDACS, UF/IFAS, or comparable organizations.

· Experience with GIS, remote sensing, field-data platforms, dashboards, and precision agriculture.

· Established relationships in Florida agriculture and the ability to work impartially across competing organizations.

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate is urgent, accountable, persistent, diplomatic, scientifically disciplined, commercially practical, field-oriented, adaptable, and trusted with confidential information. The Director must know when to press for action, when to elevate an issue, and when to redirect resources as evidence and regulatory options evolve.