About Plenty
We are on a mission to grow plenty of fresh food for everyone, everywhere. We are building the world’s largest, most technologically advanced, indoor vertical farms. Using a fraction of the land and water outdoor farms need, our farms are designed to secure our food future.
Our people and teams are how we make our mission possible. We are passionate about our contributions to Plenty, the communities around us and our planet, but never take ourselves too seriously. We’re down to earth, we grow together, and we always find a way. Join us as we rewrite the rules of agriculture, and we’ll bet our berries you’ll be rewarded with innovative and collaborative teammates, a supportive environment, diverse career opportunities and meaningful work.
Plenty grows nutritious and delicious plants sustainably without pesticides, year round. To do this, we have built an operating system that both orchestrates farming operations from seed to post-harvest (including traceability), while also providing a research platform for our plant science team. As the VP of Software and Data Systems, you will lead a highly skilled and innovative software engineering team to support our cloud-based Farm Operating System (PlentyOS) which is the software and data backbone that runs all farm operations as well as research spaces. PlentyOS also integrates with the hardware equipment in our farms and data collection, analysis and output used to manage the farm and R&D outcomes. The “Farm as a Product” strategy guides our overall thinking and roadmap for building indoor farms and our work in Software and Data will be strongly integrated into this product architecture.
Plenty is unique in the industry in that we focus on selling the farms themselves as the product. While our farms grow delicious produce, the core technology is the system we have developed to grow that produce, which is replicable across geographies and crops. Software and Data is integral to designing and delivering on that promise to partners.
- Lead a cross-functional and highly collaborative Engineering organization working at the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), software engineering, and controlled environment systems.
- Develop the long-term vision and requirements for Plenty OS in conjunction with our Customers (internal and external) and Product Team
- Set a strategic future direction for our software roadmap, clearly delineating which software capabilities are necessary for our farm IP and which can be procured or outsourced
- Responsible for software product management, technical strategy and continuous innovation
- Lead and mentor a team of Software Engineers and Data Scientists to deliver robust applications while using agile engineering practices
- Support the implementation and deployment of farms with responsive, professional and outcome aligned support of Plenty OS in Farm and Research settings, including with external customers.
- Support the implementation of Business Intelligence strategies that create ROI from the data science execution with the Operations, R&D and Commercial teams
- Build a world class Dev Ops culture that integrates engineering and operations for 24/7 supported production systems and research spaces
- Determine hiring plans and recruit, motivate, and lead top performing Engineering and Data Systems talent
- Maintain a culture of innovation and experimentation to drive continuous improvement
- Responsible for ensuring the team executes on the product roadmap and adheres to project timelines
- Ability to manage remote teams as well as contingent labor.
- Participate as a key speaker in board and investor meetings
- Others duties as assigned
- 15+ years of progressive experience in Software Engineering for hardware and equipment/process applications, specifically, 10+ years of experience leading or managing software engineering teams. Experience in Manufacturing industries is a big plus
- Education or experience equivalent to a B.S. and/or M.S. in Computer Science or related Engineering discipline
- An inspirational technical and people leader with a high emotional intelligence who sets high standards and encourages the best work of their teams and inspires innovative thinking across the company.
- Practical and simple approach and proven track record delivering outstanding UI and UX through constant and timely input and feedback end-users
- Data driven - you have a track record of seeking out data from various sources and leveraging it to make smart decisions
- Mission Driven: Deep passion for the mission of Plenty; To Grow Plenty of Fresh Food for Everyone, Everywhere
- Proven track record leading professional software engineering practices and best practices for the full software development life-cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations, experience running scrum teams with Agile processes
- Establishes and maintains a high technical bar for the organization
- Ability to articulate the benefits and limitations of software applications in a production environment
- An entrepreneurial and creative approach to developing new, innovative ideas that will stretch the organization and push the boundaries within the industry
- Ability to travel based on business needs
What we can offer
- Compensation; we’ll pay you a competitive salary, give you a stake in the company via equity and 401K company matching with no vesting period
- Health & well-being; we’ll invest in your physical and mental well-being with comprehensive medical, dental, & vision benefits, and an Employee Assistance Program to help with mental health, financial & legal matters
- Food; in-office lunches, snacks and access to our leafy greens & new produce in development -- are you up for a side gig as a taste tester?
- Grow together; learning & development opportunities including unlimited access to our Upstart University platform, LinkedIn Learning, lunch & learns, training certifications, and more
- Equipment; we’ll provide you with the equipment you need to be successful, including $75/month toward your phone bill and $250 every 2 years to upgrade your phone
- Paid time off; we know you’ll do your best if you’re taking time to recharge, so we don’t cap the amount of days you can take off per year in addition to the paid holidays we observe
- Parental leave; 12 weeks off for all new parents - fully paid so you can focus your energy on your newest addition
If you reside in California, Colorado, New York, or Washington please send an email to [email protected] to receive compensation information for this role.
