Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Production Supervisor

Cirsium Biosciences is an early-stage biotechnology company developing a novel plant-based platform for AAV production. We are advancing our technology from Research through Process Development and toward clinical and manufacturing readiness.

Position Summary

Function: Controlled Environment Agriculture / Production

Level: Lead/Supervisor

Position: Full-time

Reports To: Facilities Manager

Cirsium Biosciences is seeking a hands-on Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Production Supervisor to lead daily plant production activities within our indoor hydroponic biopharmaceutical production operation. This position is responsible for organizing and executing production workflows, supervising and training CEA Production Associates, maintaining accurate production records, and monitoring plant health and crop performance.

This is an onsite, boots-on-the-ground supervisory role. The successful candidate will work directly in controlled growing and production areas, coordinate people, materials, equipment, and schedules, and ensure work is performed safely, consistently, and in accordance with approved procedures, batch records, and work instructions.

The ideal candidate combines practical commercial growing experience with strong frontline leadership and the ability to recognize plant-health, environmental, operational, and contamination risks early. The role requires disciplined execution, accurate documentation, sound judgment, and effective collaboration with Quality, Process Development, Facilities, Materials, and other supporting functions.

Key responsibilities

CEA Production Execution and Scheduling

Lead daily CEA production activities, including plug preparation, sowing, germination, transplanting, crop maintenance, irrigation and nutrient dosing, vacuum infiltration, harvesting, material movement, and production-area cleaning.

Organize labor, materials, equipment, and production areas to execute scheduled production activities safely, consistently, and on time.

Run production workflows directly when needed and maintain a hands-on presence in CEA operations.

Ensure work is completed in the correct sequence and according to approved procedures, batch records, work instructions, production schedules, and established process requirements.

Coordinate daily production priorities and identify schedule risks, staffing constraints, material shortages, equipment limitations, or other issues that may affect planned work.

Confirm production readiness before scheduled activities, including personnel availability and training, required materials, equipment status, documentation, and production-area readiness.

Plant Health and Crop Performance

Monitor plant health, growth, uniformity, and crop performance throughout the production lifecycle and identify abnormal trends or conditions requiring escalation.

Conduct routine crop scouting and identify early signs of plant stress, irrigation or nutrient issues, pests, disease, suspected pathogens, or environmental variation.

Monitor and document relevant growing conditions, including temperature, relative humidity, light, carbon dioxide, irrigation, nutrient solution, pH, and electrical conductivity.

Document plant-health observations, crop losses, and abnormal conditions accurately and promptly, and escalate potential pathogen, pest, environmental, or process-related concerns.

Investigate plant-health trends and crop losses in collaboration with Quality, Process Development, and other appropriate functions and support implementation of approved corrective and preventive measures.

Track crop-performance trends and communicate observations that may affect production consistency, yield, process development, or scheduled deliverables.

Sanitation Biosecurity and Integrated Pest Management

Maintain strong sanitation, biosecurity, contamination-control, and integrated pest-management practices within controlled growing and production areas.

Develop, maintain, and execute approved procedures and work instructions for cultivation, nutrient management, sanitation, biosecurity, cleaning, and integrated pest management within the scope of CEA operations.

Ensure cleaning and sanitation activities are completed at the required frequency and documented according to approved requirements.

Support pathogen-prevention and contamination-control strategies and promptly report conditions that could compromise plant health, production areas, or process integrity.

Ensure employees follow established personnel-flow, material-flow, gowning, personal protective equipment, hygiene, and area-access requirements.

Personnel Supervision and Training

Supervise, train, coach, and provide daily direction to CEA Production Associates.

Assign work based on production schedules, employee training and qualifications, workload, and operational priorities; monitor progress and adjust assignments when conditions change.

Reinforce expectations for safety, quality, documentation, productivity, attendance, teamwork, and workplace conduct.

Ensure personnel are trained and qualified before independently performing assigned production activities and identify training gaps that require follow-up.

Provide routine performance feedback, address day-to-day performance issues, and escalate significant personnel concerns through the appropriate management process.

Promote accountability, consistent execution, effective communication, and a production-focused culture across the CEA team.

Documentation Quality and Deviation Support

Review production and batch documentation for completeness, accuracy, legibility, and contemporaneous completion before submission or handoff for additional review.

Ensure employees follow approved procedures, work instructions, batch records, and documentation practices and do not rely on undocumented process changes or informal instructions.

Promptly report deviations, abnormal plant observations, process interruptions, equipment problems, environmental excursions, material shortages, and other production issues.

Support deviation investigations, root-cause assessments, corrective and preventive actions, risk assessments, and change controls related to CEA production as assigned.

Implement approved corrective actions, procedural changes, and production controls within the CEA team and verify that employees understand revised expectations.

Maintain production areas and records in an organized, traceable, and inspection-ready state appropriate to Cirsium’s stage of development.

Equipment Facility and Material Readiness

Perform or verify required pre-use equipment checks and confirm equipment is available and in appropriate status before production use.

Identify abnormal equipment conditions, alarms, damage, or performance concerns and coordinate maintenance or repair needs with Facilities without independently modifying, repairing, or returning controlled equipment to service outside the role’s authorization.

Communicate environmental-control, utility, facility, or equipment conditions that may affect plant health or production and support troubleshooting with Facilities and the applicable system owner.

Monitor CEA production material needs and maintains appropriate point-of-use control of seeds, plugs, nutrients, consumables, personal protective equipment, and other assigned production materials.

Communicate inventory requirements, shortages, and forecasted needs to Materials or Procurement through established processes so scheduled production is not disrupted.

Ensure materials used in CEA operations are appropriately identified, stored, handled, and used in accordance with approved requirements and established material status.

Cross Functional Collaboration and Production Metrics

Collaborate with Quality, Process Development, Facilities, Materials, Research, Analytical, and other functions as appropriate to support production readiness, process improvement, investigations, equipment changes, and inspection-ready operations.

Provide practical CEA production input during development, scale-up, process-transfer, and implementation of new or revised plant-production processes.

Track production status, crop performance, losses, schedule adherence, labor needs, and other relevant operational metrics and communicate priorities and results to management.

Identify recurring operational issues and recommend practical improvements to workflows, plant handling, sanitation, material flow, training, or production practices.

Participate in risk assessments, inspections, audits, and readiness activities within the scope of CEA operations and provide accurate information based on approved records and direct knowledge.

Qualifications

Four or more years of relevant experience in commercial horticulture, controlled environment agriculture, greenhouse production, indoor agriculture, nursery operations, or a related plant-production environment.

At least two years of experience leading employees, crews, shifts, or production activities; formal supervisory experience is required.

Practical knowledge of plant growth, irrigation, nutrient management, environmental conditions, sanitation, pest prevention, biosecurity, and plant-health monitoring.

Demonstrated experience with routine crop scouting, early identification of plant-health abnormalities, documentation of findings, and timely escalation of potential pathogen or disease concerns.

Demonstrated ability to organize people, materials, equipment, and tasks around a production schedule and respond effectively when priorities or conditions change.

Strong attention to detail and the ability to follow and enforce written procedures, work instructions, batch records, and documentation requirements.

Clear written and verbal communication skills, sound judgment, and the ability to coach employees and address routine performance issues.

Ability and willingness to work onsite and perform hands-on production work within controlled growing and production areas.

Preferred Experience

Associate or bachelor’s degree in horticulture, plant science, biology, agriculture, biotechnology, or a related field.

Experience in a biotechnology, pharmaceutical, GMP, food, or other regulated production environment.

Experience with hydroponic systems, automated environmental controls, environmental monitoring, and controlled indoor growing systems.

Experience with Nicotiana Benthamian or other plant-based biotechnology production systems.

Experience supporting deviation investigations, corrective and preventive actions, risk assessments, change controls, or inspection-readiness activities.

Experience with plant-pathogen prevention, sanitation programs, biosecurity, and integrated pest-management programs in a controlled production environment.

What Success Looks Like

Daily CEA production is organized, appropriately staffed, and executed safely, consistently, and on schedule.

Production personnel understand their assignments, are appropriately trained, and follow approved procedures and documentation requirements.

Plant-health, crop-performance, environmental, equipment, and material issues are identified early and escalated before they create avoidable production loss or schedule impact.

Production and batch records are complete, accurate, legible, contemporaneous, and ready for review.

Sanitation, biosecurity, contamination-control, and integrated pest-management practices are consistently applied throughout CEA operations.

Required materials, equipment, production areas, and personnel are prepared before scheduled work begins, and readiness risks are communicated early.

CEA production areas remain orderly, controlled, and inspection ready as Cirsium progresses toward clinical and manufacturing readiness.

Leadership & Growth Opportunity

This role is intended for a supervisor who can lead from the production floor while building reliable day-to-day operating discipline. The initial expectation is hands-on leadership, close involvement in plant production, active coaching of CEA Production Associates, and consistent ownership of daily production execution.

As Cirsium’s programs and operations mature, this individual will have the opportunity to help strengthen CEA production systems, develop staff capability, improve production planning and performance metrics, and support the transition toward increasingly controlled and regulated biopharmaceutical production.

Physical and Work Environment Requirements

Regular onsite work in controlled environment agriculture, greenhouse, production, laboratory-support, storage, and adjacent operational areas.

Ability to stand and walk for extended periods and routinely bend, reach, crouch, lift, carry, push, or pull materials and equipment associated with plant-production activities.

Ability to safely lift or carry up to 50 pounds, with team lifting or mechanical assistance used when appropriate.

Ability to work in areas with elevated humidity, variable temperatures, artificial lighting, water, nutrient solutions, plant material, and routine agricultural production conditions.

Ability to wear required personal protective equipment and complete applicable gowning, biosafety, chemical-safety, and production training.

Occasional schedule flexibility may be required to support crop timing, critical production activities, environmental alarms, or production issues.

Additional Information

This job description describes the general nature and level of work expected for the position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every responsibility, duty, or qualification. Responsibilities may be adjusted based on business needs, organizational growth, employee training, and management authorization.

Cirsium Biosciences is an emerging company located in San Diego, California. We offer highly competitive compensation and employee programs, including comprehensive health, dental and vision plans, generous time off, and equity in our early-stage company. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace that keeps our team inspired and engaged. We offer an inclusive company culture where employees feel respected and valued.

Cirsium Biosciences is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualiﬁed applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, genetics, disability, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected categories.