Global fruit and vegetable seed breeder scaling breeding automation and IT infrastructure
Rijk Zwaan is a 100-year-old family-owned seed breeder with 4,200 employees across 30+ countries, deriving 40% of its workforce and 30% of revenue from R&D. The tech stack—Databricks, Power BI, Azure, Dynamics 365, OutSystems—combined with heavy hiring in research (53 roles) and active projects around breeding trial apps, R&D process automation, and Azure platform integration signals a shift from manual breeding workflows toward data-driven crop optimization and operational digitization.
Notable leadership hires: Technical Innovation Project Lead, Managing Director, Team Lead Support
Rijk Zwaan develops and sells improved fruit and vegetable seed varieties to growers and retail chains worldwide from its headquarters in De Lier, Netherlands. The company operates a sales and service model built on crop and retail specialists embedded in major global markets—including the US, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Australia, and Europe—to ensure consistent supply and product quality. Operations span breeding research, seed production and manufacturing, international distribution, and customer support, with ongoing investments in breeding trial automation, quality systems, and global supply-chain visibility.
Core platforms include Databricks, Power BI, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, Azure, OutSystems, and GitHub Copilot. The company is adopting Azure and replacing Citrix with modern infrastructure.
Yes. Research roles represent the largest active hiring category (53 open positions), reflecting the company's 40%-of-workforce R&D commitment and ongoing breeding automation initiatives.
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