Senior Optimization Scientist

Corteva Agriscience is the world’s only major agriculture company fully dedicated to transforming global food systems with science and technology. We’re looking for a Senior Optimization Scientist to join our Optimization team in the SODA group, where you’ll help shape the future of agriculture by building intelligent systems for breeding, logistics, resource allocation, and farm planning.

This role is at the intersection of mathematical optimization, AI/ML, simulation modeling, and data engineering, with an emphasis on scaling solutions through cloud-native tools like Databricks and enabling real-time decisioning via digital twins.

What You’ll Do

• Develop scalable optimization and predictive models integrated into production pipelines for planning, recommendation, scheduling, and simulation-based decisioning.
• Build and maintain end-to-end solutions on the Databricks Lakehouse platform, leveraging: Unity Catalog for secure and governed data access. Delta Lake and Delta Live Tables for real-time, streaming data pipelines. Databricks SQL and DBX Notebooks for exploration and collaboration. MLflow for experiment tracking, model versioning, and deployment.
• Design and operationalize digital twin architectures, including: Multi-resolution simulation engines (e.g., AnyLogic, SimPy, custom discrete-event models). Data-driven digital twins that combine real-time data with dynamic models for continuous feedback and learning. Integration of optimization and simulation layers for closed-loop systems.
• Develop and evaluate AI/ML techniques such as: Mixed Integer Programming (MIP), meta-heuristics, constraint satisfaction. Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL), multi-agent systems, and self-play. Bayesian inference, Monte Carlo methods, causal modeling. Self-supervised and contrastive learning for representation building.
• Translate complex business needs into robust modeling frameworks, collaborating with domain experts across R&D, supply chain, and product teams.
  
  

What Skills You Need

• Ph.D. or Master’s in Operations Research, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, Applied Math, or related quantitative field.
• 5 years of hands-on experience in applied optimization and machine learning.
• Experience designing production-grade systems and delivering impact across large organizations.
• Ability to translate analytical models into decision support tools.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across technical and business teams.
  
  

Nice To Have

• Prior experience developing or contributing to digital twin architectures in complex domains.
• Deep familiarity with Databricks enterprise features, including governance, lineage, and role-based access.
• Experience with geospatial modeling, forecasting, or edge-device integration.
• Published research in optimization, AI, or digital twin modeling (e.g., INFORMS, ICML, NeurIPS, GECCO).
• Contributions to open-source tools or internal libraries for reusable analytics modules.
  
  

About You

• Strong foundation in optimization techniques, including: Deterministic/stochastic modeling. Network flows, routing, scheduling, and resource allocation. Familiarity with solvers (Gurobi, CPLEX, OR-Tools).
• Hands-on experience with simulation modeling and digital twin technologies: Agent-based or discrete event simulation (e.g., SimPy, AnyLogic). Co-simulation of physical and data-driven models. Real-time feedback systems using sensor, geospatial, and historical data.
• Proven track record of using Databricks as an end-to-end ML platform, including: Large-scale data preprocessing and orchestration. Managing feature stores, pipeline automation, and CI/CD. Model lifecycle management using MLflow and Unity Catalog.
• Strong Python development skills; R or C is a plus.
• Familiarity with modern ML methods: supervised, RL, causal inference, contrastive learning, and foundation models.
• Proficient in SQL and cloud-native data engineering (Spark, Delta Lake, Airflow).
  
  

Benefits – How We’ll Support You

• Numerous development opportunities offered to build your skills
• Be part of a company with a higher purpose and contribute to making the world a better place
• Health benefits for you and your family on your first day of employment
• Four weeks of paid time off and two weeks of well-being pay per year, plus paid holidays
• Excellent parental leave which includes a minimum of 16 weeks for mother and father
• Future planning with our competitive retirement savings plan and tuition reimbursement program
• Learn more about our total rewards package here - Corteva Benefits
• Check out life at Corteva! www.linkedin.com/company/corteva/life
  
  

Are you a good match? Apply today! We seek applicants from all backgrounds to ensure we get the best, most creative talent on our team.

The salary range for this position is $126,610.00 to $158,260.00.

This reflects a reasonable estimate of the targeted base salary for this role. This role is also eligible for an annual bonus. Based on factors such as geographic location and candidate qualifications, actual base pay is determined when an employment offer is made.

Corteva Agriscience is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to embracing our differences to enrich lives, advance innovation, and boost company performance. Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, military or veteran status, pregnancy related conditions (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), disability or any other protected status in accordance with federal, state, or local laws.