Research Officer II – Breeder/Agronomist

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is an autonomous, non-profit making, international scientific organization operating under the aegis of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). More specifically its mission is to encourage, support and undertake activities to improve the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of maize and wheat systems in the interest of the resource poor in developing countries.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) seeks to recruit a Research Officer II – Beeder/Agronomist will support the project leader in managing and implementing project activities; and achieving creative partnerships across public and private sectors to strengthen the contribution of wheat to incomes, food security and nutrition in the irrigated lowland areas of Awash River basin. She/he will be involved in development, testing, and promotion of new technologies including varieties, agronomic practices, farm implements through training of trainers, demonstration fields and field days. She/he is expected to travel frequently to the project areas to implement, monitor and give technical support to partner organizations.

Main duties and responsibilities:

Management

• Liaises with national partners to ensure timely establishment of field trials, data collection and other research activities;
• Applies field research techniques and procedures for the implementation of breeding and agronomy trials, to develop recommended packages for irrigated wheat;
• Collaborates in research activities assigned to adaptation, demonstration, and piloting of wheat technologies for irrigated lowlands as indicated in the “ADAPT-Wheat” document;
• Facilitates collaboration among partners and researchers for joint data collection and analysis;
• Ensures coordination of project activities with other wheat projects in Afar and Oromia regions;
• Ensures timely reporting to the project leader, especially of any abnormal situations during the roll-out of the assigned project for immediate correction;
• Manages project funds and activities in accordance with approved budgets and timelines and facilitate payment requests;
• Contributes to the timely preparation of project action plans, budgets, and progress reports;
• Performs other management-related activities as requested by the CIMMYT-Ethiopia Project leader
• Collaborates in the field, and laboratory tasks, as well as in the supervision of temporary staff, to contributes to meeting the objectives of the project;
• Coordinates stakeholders’ workshops, including consultative, planning and reviews workshops;

Technical

• Prepares status and ad hoc reports in project reporting for the tasks performed and the results achieved in the assigned project;
• Prepares electronic field books for nurseries/yield trials and collects data electronically;
• Conducts statistical analysis of data collected in the field books and enters an appropriate database, to contribute data management for the project and draft technical reports and scientific publications;
• Identifies demonstration sites and participating farmers for irrigated wheat technology demonstration in the fields of small-scale irrigation, sustainable crop, soil, and water management;
• Contributes to project ME&L including designing and monitoring tools, regular field works to collect monitoring data and report;
• Contributes to the timely preparation of project Action Plans, Budgets and Progress Reports;
• Provides technical backstopping to partner organizations;
• Performs other duties as requested by the Project leader;
• Contributes to the development of concept notes and proposals;
• Executes working visits to other CIMMYT research sites in Ethiopia;
• Identifies, documents, and shares project experience, successes challenges and lessons learnt.

Academic and professional qualifications:

Education:

• MSc degree in Plant Sciences (Breeding or Agronomy) from a highly recognized university.
• Broad / specialized knowledge of methods, techniques and processes.

Experience:

• Masters’ degree plus 5 years of work experience in agronomy or breeding research.
• Solid work experience with wheat agronomy, breeding, their seed multiplication, and production system.
• Must have good experience in designing and executing field trials.
• Basic understanding of wheat production, and its management.

Additional Skills:

• Must be familiar with Microsoft office program (Excel, power point, Ms word) and statistical data analysis software’s (e.g., SAS, R, SPSS, ANOVA etc.)
• Some experience in in communicating research findings in national and international conferences and other platforms.
• Teamwork with staff management experience.
• Problem solving skills and strong results-orientation.
• Proven negotiation and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Capacity to work under pressure with minimum supervision.
• Excellent communication skills (Amharic and English). Knowledge of other local languages is a plus.
• Working experience in data management.
• Fully computer literate.
• A valid driving license.

Duty Station: Addis Ababa/Werer, Ethiopia

Terms of appointment:  This is a National Staff (NS) position, initial appointment is fixed term for three years with the possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and the availability of funding. The ILRI remuneration package for nationally recruited staff in Ethiopia includes a very competitive salary and benefits such as life and medical insurance, offshore pension plan, etc.

Applications: Applicants should provide a cover letter and curriculum vitae; names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to be included in the curriculum vitae. The position and reference number: RO/CIMMYT/25/21 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter. All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: https://ilri.simplicant.com/jobs/39971-research-officer-ii-breeder-agronomist/apply on or before 25 August 2021.

To find more about CIMMYT, visit our Website at www.cimmyt.org

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/

Suitably qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply.