Senior Seed Program Supervisor

(Paid Opportunities) Return to Paid Opportunities

Start Date: 08/18/2023 Compensation: 09/15/2023

The Division of Environment and Planning aims to protect, restore, and expand New York City's green spaces and natural areas to maximize their benefits for environmental and community health and resilience. Greenbelt Native Plant Center (GNPC) supplies native plants and seeds sourced from local plant populations. This supports the restoration and management of the City's natural areas and conserves local plant species on parks' owned land. The GNPC seed program is committed to collecting, farming, and banking seeds from genetically diverse and healthy wild regional populations. It also supports the preservation and restoration of ecosystems in New York City through seed increase, which involves farming and providing high-quality, genetically diverse native plant seeds for restoration projects.

Responsibilities/Duties

Under supervision of the GNPC Director, lead, manage and develop three sections of the nursery’s seed program: wild seed collection, seed increase, and the seed bank.
Supervise and manage a combination of staff and workload of the wild seed collection team, seed increase program, and seed bank. Promote a strong sense of purpose and shared vision and foster a collaborative and innovative work environment, encouraging new ways of distributing collection and farming work, implementing new software, and enhancing data and distribution tracking. Communicate with other managers to ensure smooth production flow and resource sharing as needed.
Lead the strategic development of the seed program and seed products at the nursery through market research, analysis, and development of best practices. Work across teams to produce seed collection lists and grow plans for seed increase. Develop short-term and long-term goals across all seed increase plot locations, including offsite fields. Support the GNPC Director in managing strategic partnerships with land managers, seed users, and potential collaborators, with the goal of creating a more resilient and impactful seed program.
Oversee all aspects of seed storage, including inventory management, logistics of distribution, seed bank maintenance, quality control, seed testing, seed cleaning, product development, and client relationships. Utilize the seed bank's resources to match projects to suitable species and quality parameters, ensuring optimal utilization of the seed collections.
Ensure the proper functioning and maintenance of seed bank, seed lab, and seed cleaning equipment. Coordinate with Nursery Manager and facility staff to maintain and upgrade equipment, keep accurate records of maintenance schedules and work plans.
Supervise, train, instruct, and motivate full-time and seasonal staff, as well as volunteers, interns and alternative workforce employees assigned to the nursery.
Participate in the annual purchasing process for nursery supplies and equipment relating to the seed team, researching prices and materials as needed. Maintain accurate inventory of supplies relating to the seed team.

Qualifications/Requirements

Strong supervisory and management skills and background.
Experience with program development.
Bachelor’s degree in horticulture, botany, biological, environmental sciences, or related field.
Working knowledge of theory and practices of wild seed collection practices, seed banks and agriculture.
Familiarity with local flora of New York City region and associate plant community types; familiarity with seed banking.
Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access; Inventory Control software.
Strong interpersonal, problem solving and communication skills.
Valid New York State driver license. Knowledge of and experience in applying the principles and practices of emergency management.

Additional Information

Job ID#: 599209

Contact Information

NYC Parks
Contact Name: Jerrell Lewis
Email: jerrell.lewis@parks.nyc.gov
Phone: 2128307876
Website: Apply Online