Innovation & Partnerships Lead

Life Scientific | Dublin (Hybrid)

About Life Scientific

Crop protection is changing.

Regulatory pressure is increasing.
Biologicals are rising.
Farmers expect more with less.
And capital discipline matters more than ever.

Life Scientific operates in a $250 billion global market — but we don’t behave like an incumbent.

We reverse-engineer, rethink and reimagine proven chemistry.
We partner intelligently.
We move with focus.
And we expect innovation to earn its place in the field.

As our pipeline expands, we’re strengthening how we prioritise, validate and partner — ensuring our next generation of products delivers real agronomic and commercial impact.

That’s where you come in.

The Opportunity

Let’s be honest.

Innovation in crop protection is hard.

It’s expensive.
It’s regulated.
It’s slow.
And most ideas shouldn’t survive.

This role exists for one reason:

To make sure only the right ideas do.

As Innovation & Partnerships Lead, you will sit at the centre of our future pipeline — shaping what enters it, challenging what stays in it, and killing what shouldn’t progress.

You will architect and orchestrate a balanced innovation funnel — maintaining 80–100 early-stage concepts and converting them into 8–10 validated, transfer-ready projects per year.

Not as a metric.
As a discipline.

You will work across R&D, Regulatory, Portfolio, Commercial and external partners to ensure innovation is not just technically credible — but strategically sharp and commercially meaningful.

This is not a lab role.
It’s not a strategy deck role.

It’s an orchestration role.

You will turn possibility into prioritised, validated, executable innovation.

And in doing so, you’ll shape the next generation of Life Scientific products globally.

This Role Is For You If You…

You get uncomfortable when portfolios drift without challenge.

You instinctively ask:

• Is this solving a real agronomic problem?

• Is it differentiated enough?

• Is it worth the regulatory path?

• Should we stop this now?

You are energised by making calls — not endlessly analysing.

You think in portfolios, not projects.

You can evaluate technical ideas without needing to be the smartest scientist in the room.

You are commercially literate and allergic to vanity innovation.

You are comfortable killing projects early to protect capital and focus.

You can sit with R&D and earn credibility.
Then sit with Commercial and earn trust.
Then sit with external partners and hold your own.

You enjoy ambiguity — but you bring structure to it.

You don’t chase volume.
You build quality.

What You’ll Do

Architect the Innovation Portfolio

• Own end-to-end execution of Life Scientific’s innovation pipeline

• Maintain a balanced funnel of 80–100 early-stage ideas delivering 8–10 validated projects annually

• Lead stage-gate preparation, reviews and follow-up with rigour and clarity

• Drive early prioritisation, including decisive kill or pivot decisions

• Ensure projects meet defined technical, regulatory and commercial criteria before progressing

Build and Lead Strategic Innovation Partnerships

• Identify and engage VCs, technology providers and ecosystem partners to access differentiated innovation

• Evaluate and manage partnerships providing access to:

  • Proprietary active ingredients (chemical and biological)

  • Formulation and delivery technologies

  • Enabling adjuvants, safeners or platforms

• Coordinate IP, data-sharing and milestone alignment in collaboration with Legal and Regulatory teams

• Ensure partnerships deliver commercially meaningful outcomes — not just technical collaboration

Orchestrate Cross-Functional Execution

• Act as the central integrator across R&D, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Portfolio and Commercial

• Translate agronomic and technical concepts into clear, executable innovation briefs

• Embed regulatory strategy from the earliest project stages

• Prepare robust transfer packages and handovers to Development teams

• Reduce cycle time from concept to validated transfer

Embed Commercial Discipline

• Ensure all projects entering Validation meet agreed financial and strategic criteria

• Coordinate early commercial input and challenge assumptions constructively

• Maintain focus on impactful innovation — avoiding technically interesting but low-value work

Reinforce Governance & Culture

• Prepare materials for portfolio reviews, executive updates and partner governance meetings

• Champion a culture of:

  • Problem-led innovation

  • Early learning and fast failure

  • Accountability and ownership

• Capture and reuse learning from both successes and failures

What You Bring

You’ve worked in innovation, product development or portfolio environments where decisions mattered.

You understand the realities of crop protection — formulation, regulatory pathways, development timelines and commercial constraints — or you’ve worked in a similarly complex, regulated product-led industry.

You’ve managed cross-functional teams in matrixed environments and are comfortable influencing without formal authority.

You bring:

• Strong innovation judgement — knowing what to push, pivot or stop

• The ability to evaluate technical concepts without needing to be the technical expert

• Commercial literacy and a clear value-creation mindset

• Excellent portfolio and project management capability

• Confidence engaging with senior stakeholders and external partners

• Comfort operating in ambiguity while driving decisions

Experience in crop protection, agrochemicals or agri-tech is highly desirable — but intellectual sharpness, commercial instinct and disciplined execution matter most.

What Success Looks Like

Within 24–36 months, you will have:

• Delivered 8–10 validated innovation projects per year into Development

• Established high-impact strategic innovation partnerships

• Reduced cycle time from concept to transfer

• Built strong credibility across R&D, Commercial and Regulatory

• Embedded disciplined portfolio governance across the innovation pipeline

Why Join Life Scientific?

Because here, innovation isn’t theatre.

It’s accountable.

You’ll operate at the centre of a global business with real ambition — shaping what we build, who we partner with and where we invest.

You won’t inherit a static process.
You’ll refine and strengthen one.

It won’t always be easy.
But it will matter.

And the right ideas — the ones that survive because of your judgement — will end up in farmers’ fields around the world.