Senior Agronomist

About the role

This is a specialist role, not a management one. You have no team under you and no projects to run. You exist so that everyone who does has somewhere to take a problem they cannot solve.

Hebbevu runs multiple farm projects and is adding more. Each is managed by a Farm Portfolio Executive who can recognize common pest pressure and disease on sight. What they cannot do is diagnose. When something is beyond the obvious, a crop not responding, unexplained mortality, a disease nobody recognizes, a growth problem across a block, it comes to you and you prescribe.

You work across all projects. The executives and supervisors consult you directly rather than going up and across a hierarchy, because a crop problem does not wait for a reporting line. You report to the Farm Manager and to nobody else.

We are appointing two agronomists deliberately. When something serious is happening across a project, one opinion is not enough. You will be asked for a second view on your colleague’s diagnosis and they will be asked for one on yours. If you want a role where your judgement is never questioned, this is not it.

Beyond diagnosis, we want you shaping the standing practice: the manure and nutrition cycles, the pest control calendar, the thresholds at which an executive should call you rather than watch. Over time that should mean fewer calls, not more.

This is a consulting appointment with a defined time commitment, which suits someone with a research or institutional career behind them. Retired specialists are welcome and expected. If you would prefer a full time arrangement we can discuss it.

What you would do

• Diagnose plant disease, pest and growth problems referred from across all projects
• Prescribe treatment, and specify what is applied, at what rate and for how long
• Give a second opinion on diagnoses raised by other agronomists
• Visit projects to assess problems in the field rather than from photographs alone
• Set the standing nutrition, manure and pest control cycles the executives work to
• Define the thresholds at which an executive should escalate rather than observe
• Review mortality patterns across projects and identify causes that cross more than one farm
• Advise on crop selection and planting decisions for new projects when asked
• Build the field team’s knowledge so routine problems stop reaching you

What we are looking for

• Masters or PhD in agronomy, plant pathology, horticulture or a related discipline, or an equivalent research or institutional career
• Substantial field experience diagnosing plant disease and pest problems, not laboratory work alone
• Depth in the crops under cultivation here, or demonstrated ability to come up to speed on unfamiliar ones
• Willing to have your diagnosis questioned and to question someone else’s
• Able to explain a prescription clearly to a field executive who is not a specialist
• Available to visit projects on a defined schedule and on call for urgent cases
• Comfortable using a smartphone or portal to receive and record cases

What you can count on

How we hire

1. Step 1Apply in two minutesYour name, your mobile number and your resume. If you have no role in mind, leave your details in the talent pool instead and we will call when something fits.
2. Step 2A call from HRWe call to understand what you have done and what you want to do next, and to answer whatever you want to ask us.
3. Step 3The interviewWith HR and the manager for the role. If you are selected, a founder interview follows before the offer.
4. Step 4The offerIf it is a fit, HR makes you an offer setting out the role, the pay and the start date, and goes through it with you before you decide.

About Hebbevu

Hebbevu farms 1200+ acres without chemicals and looks after 2000+ desi cattle, and has delivered 19+ managed farmland projects for 1600+ co-farmers. Three brands sit on that: Hebbevu Managed Farmland at the farms in Penukonda, Hebbevu Fresh in the factory and the stores around Bengaluru, and Hebbevu Genetics with the cattle.