Pairwise is agriculture’s gene editing powerhouse, building a healthier world through partnership and plant innovation. Co-founded by CRISPR pioneers, the company’s Fulcrum® Platform accelerates the development of climate-resilient, nutritious, and sustainable crops that are easier to grow and better to ea
Founded in 2017 and based in Durham, North Carolina, Pairwise partners with global leaders and nonprofit institutions to help breeders move faster and transform food and agriculture for farmers, consumers, and the planet. The company collaborates with partners and licenses its Fulcrum® CRISPR tools to diversify breeding programs and bring innovations to market faster—from developing the world’s first pitless cherry to improving staple crops such as corn, soy, cacao, yam, and rice.
Backed by leading investors including Deerfield, Aliment Capital, Leaps by Bayer, Temasek, and Corteva Catalyst, Pairwise has raised $155 million in total funding. In 2025, the company was recognized as one of MIT Technology Review's 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch and named to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in Agriculture, while also earning "Best Ag-Bio Company" honors in the Triangle Business Journal's Life Sciences Awards. For more information, visit www.pairwise.com.
About This Role:
Inspiration, engagement, innovation, creativity, knowing the work you do will have a deep and lasting impact on science and the future of agriculture are all individually great reasons to get out of bed and go to work every day. But what if you could have them all in one position?
At Pairwise, we’re all inspired by our mission, building a healthier world through better fruits and vegetables, and the connection we each have to that mission. When you have a company full of passionate people who are inspired by the work they do, it makes for a team of truly engaged people who are motivated to work together, be creative, and push the bounds of what’s possible, and in the end bring new food to the world in new ways.
The Trait Discovery Research Scientist is a dynamic and exciting position within Pairwise leading well-resourced cross-functional projects to build value for Pairwise and our collaborators. This is a position exercising deep molecular genetics expertise and project leadership capabilities. As a matrixed, cross-functional leader you’ll be instrumental in delivering high-value projects. The person who takes this role will have the opportunity to lead novel crop trait development projects and interface with the Pairwise technology development team to develop novel gene editing tools. Come join a fantastic team of scientists and leaders at the cutting edge of new breeding technologies.
Essential Functions:
- Demonstrate proactive and forward-looking project leadership in active collaborations:
o Discover and nominate trait gene targets and design edit-derived alleles.
o Assess the feasibility of collaborator-proposed nominations.
o Contribute to collaboration science updates — developing trait-focused nominations, providing hand-off context, and sharing phenotypic results.
o Drive communication, documentation, and alignment across the project team.
o Champion Pairwise shared data systems (ELN, LIMS, data warehouses, etc) for project leadership, edit tracking, and reporting.
o Lead projects using Pairwise project management tools and procedures (planning and request software, science/project plans, Gantt charts).
- Partner with the Associate Director of Row Crop Trait Discovery to define project concepts, then execute them on budget — refining research direction through both incremental improvements and significant course changes.
- Apply scientific expertise in an industrial setting: experiment design, results interpretation, and sound conclusions.
- Communicate complex technical results and their link to scientific or product strategy concisely, ensuring supporting data are governed, centralized, and accessible in approved corporate systems.
- Deliver conclusions and enabling data supporting invention disclosures and patent filings.
- Demonstrate externally recognized Research & Development (R&D) track record of competence in trait biology and edit design.
- Build working familiarity with target crop agronomy and cropping systems, coaching stakeholders as needed to advance project execution.
Required Education & Experience:
- A PhD in plant developmental genetics, molecular genetics, plant molecular biology, plant physiology, molecular plant pathology, or related field is required.
- The successful candidate will have exceptional communication & organizational skills
- Deep knowledge of plant development and architecture, molecular genetics, plant physiology, plant-microbe interactions or other areas of trait biology are a must
- Experience driving multiple projects simultaneously is strongly preferred
- Industry experience is preferred
Offerings:
- Comprehensive Benefits Plan, including Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA, 401k, Life Insurance, Short-Term & Long-Term Disability, and more!
- Flexible PTO (use what you need, when you need it), in addition to company holidays
- Casual work environment
- Mission-driven organization focused on creating healthier fruits and veggies.
- A cutting-edge, driven community looking to lead the industry in innovation and nutrition
Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to use hands to manipulate office equipment and techniques that require fine motor skills and repetitive motions. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
EEO Statement:
We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Pairwise we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
No Recruiters please.
