About the Opportunity

The Nursery is a critical component of the Driscoll’s business model, enabling berry production and revenue growth through the propagation of plants for our growers. The Nursery motto is to deliver plants In-Volume, On-Time, On-Grade and Within Cost.

The Plant Tissue Culture Lab Operations Intern will support the Tissue Culture (TC) Laboratory by contributing to a focused efficiency-improvement project across both robotic and manual production workflows. The intern will assist in collecting operational data, mapping process steps, and analyzing key production metrics to help identify workflow delays, bottlenecks, and opportunities to improve efficiency within the lab.

The primary objective of this internship is to support data-driven insights that help enhance production throughput, improve robot utilization, and streamline daily laboratory operations. This role offers hands-on exposure to plant tissue culture production, laboratory operations, and automation technologies used in commercial plant propagation.

Working closely with lab technicians, supervisors, and the automation team, the intern will gain practical experience in operational analytics, process improvement, and applied biotechnology within a fast-paced laboratory production environment.

 

Responsibilities

• Collect, organize, and analyze operational data across tissue culture workflows (manual and robotic).

• Track key production metrics such as contamination rates, cycle times, throughput, and success rates.

• Support workflow mapping to document how materials move through the TC Lab, identifying bottlenecks and improvement opportunities.

• Assist with digitizing paper logs and converting them into structured datasets.

• Create dashboards, reports, or visual summaries that help the team monitor daily operations.

• Participate in evaluating material readiness for upcoming production cycles, including availability of clones, explants, and media.

• Collaborate with lab technicians, media prep, inventory, and robotics teams to ensure process alignment.

• Identify potential operational risks, delays, or inefficiencies and communicate observations proactively.

• Contribute to continuous improvement projects aimed at enhancing throughput, reducing waste, and streamlining overall lab operations.

   

Candidate Profile

***IMPORTANT***
- This is an on-site, 6-month internship based in Watsonville, CA, ideally starting in May/June to December
- A housing stipend is NOT available for this internship
- We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time or in the future. Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S.
- Must be a recent graduate within the last 6 months or graduating by Summer 2026

Requirements

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in one of the following areas: Biology, Plant Science, Biotechnology, Agribusiness, Agriculture, Horticulture, Business Administration, Operations Management, Mathematics, Statistics, Data Analytics
• Data analysis and process improvement
• Laboratory operations or biological production environments
• Operational workflow analysis
• Production metrics and reporting 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• Ability to interpret operational data and understand production workflows. 
• Comfortable working in a laboratory production environment (training provided). 
• Interest in lab operations, production efficiency, workflow optimization, or automation.

Preferred

• Familiarity with Power BI or other visualization tools is a plus. 
• Previous internship, research, or project experience involving data analysis, laboratory work, or operational processes preferred.
• Exposure to laboratory environments, agricultural production systems, or operational analytics is a plus.
• Interest in plant tissue culture, plant propagation, or agricultural biotechnology
• Curiosity about automation and robotics used in biological production systems
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team-oriented laboratory environment
• Interest in process improvement, operational efficiency, or production analytics

Compensation

The following information is provided in good faith as a general description of the salary range and benefits for the position posted.  The actual compensation offered to the successful candidate is dependent upon experience, skills, education, work location, internal pay equity, and other objective job-related factors.

The hourly rate for this internship is $23.00 and applies to recent graduates within 6 months of graduation or students graduating this summer.