Postdoctoral Research Associate (Precision Agriculture)

Location: Temple, Texas, United States

Salary: Commensurate with the selected candidate’s qualifications.

Company

Texas A&M AgriLife is a large agriculture and life sciences organization within The Texas A&M University System, conducting research, education, extension, and service.

What you will do

• Combine field observations, proximal sensing, UAV and satellite imagery, yield monitor data, and soil, environmental, and weather datasets.
• Create soil and agronomic intelligence products for precision management and conservation decisions at subfield, farm, and regional levels.
• Analyze yield stability and build, validate, and apply ML/AI-based prediction models.
• Create management zones linked to farm economics and develop scaling solutions for different management scenarios.
• Build reusable R/Python workflows and develop profit–risk–environment tradeoff products.
• Publish and present findings, collaborate with USDA-ARS and university partners, and contribute to proposal development.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Soil Science, Agronomy, Agricultural Engineering, Geosciences, Environmental Sciences, or a closely related discipline.
• Strong background in data-intensive soil and agronomic analytics and geospatial modeling.
• Proficiency in proximal sensing, GIS, and remote sensing.
• Ability to multitask and work cooperatively with others.
• Position availability is contingent on grant funding.

Nice to have

• Advanced ML/AI experience in digital soil mapping, pedometrics, soil landscape modeling, and high-resolution geospatial and temporal datasets.
• Experience with precision agriculture tools and data, including yield monitors, management zones, ECa/EMI, LiDAR, VisNIR, and UAV workflows.
• Programming proficiency in R or Python for automated reproducible workflows.
• Knowledge of soil health, water quality, carbon/nitrogen cycling, and profit–risk–environment tradeoff assessment.
• Academic publications, conference contributions, and strong oral and written communication skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife, USDA-ARS laboratories, and university partners across Texas and the United States.
• Health, dental, vision, life, and long-term disability insurance.
• Paid holidays, monthly sick leave, and paid vacation.
• Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
• Employee wellness initiative.

Hiring process

• Submit a CV or resume, cover letter, list of references, and a copy of the degree or transcript showing the degree was conferred.
• Employment is contingent on credential verification and completion of a criminal history investigation.