Senior Banana Breeder at IITA Tanzania

Jobs in Tanzania 2024: New Job Vacancies at The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) 2024

Senior Banana Breeder
Senior Banana Breeder at IITA Tanzania July 2024
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the internationally recruited position of Senior Banana Breeder.
The
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a
not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to
meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty,
and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across
sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition
security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity.
IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for
a food secure future. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more
information on IITA.

IITA focuses on breeding of six very
important crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): cassava, yam,
banana/plantain, maize, soybean, and cowpea. These breeding programs
have been reviewed using the Breeding Program Assessment Tool (BPAT)
(https://plantbreedingassessment.org/) and have had extensive
interactions with the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform.As
a result, crop specific and cross cutting (institutional) improvement
plans have been developed along with product profiles and market
segmentation analyses. Implementing these plans will be a central part
of the Accelerating Breeding Initiative of the OneCGIAR with active
involvement and close collaboration with other Initiatives within the
Genetic Innovation Science Area and bilateral projects.

The
successful candidate will design, execute, and manage the maize breeding
program, while also coordinating a breeding network targeting East and
Central African banana prioritized market segments. The successful
candidate will work closely with local partner organizations, including
CGIAR and NARES institutions, as well as other partners, to establish a
crossing and evaluation program aimed at delivering superior varieties
that support rapid adoption by farmers. This position reports to Banana
Breeding Program Lead.

Position Responsibilities

• Breeding Strategy: Formulating breeding strategies aimed at achieving
  specific goals, such as increasing yield, improving stress tolerance, or
  enhancing nutritional content
• Product Design and Development:
  Implement an effective breeding strategy to develop elite breeding
  material and a product advancement process to identify new candidate
  varieties for targeted market segments and product profiles
• Demand-led
  Breeding: Support and contribute to revision of market segment
  definition and product profile development and seed system activities in
  the region
• Germplasm Development: Working with NARS and
  selected partners, identify, obtain and develop appropriate germplasm to
  sustain the breeding program
• Coordination: Coordinate the
  development of a stage gate multilocation product performance testing
  strategy, data analysis and advancement process, which is aligned with
  target market segments, TPEs or Agro-ecologies
• Optimization of
  Breeding Processes and Operations: Ensure cost effective breeding
  operations, and standard operating procedures that deliver agreed
  quality and performance indicators
• Collaboration and Partnerships:
• Develop
  strong partnerships with national public breeding programs to
  collaboratively identify critical germplasm, product needs and define
  complementary breeding objectives
• Enable and actively support
  the regional crop network to collaboratively plan and implement breeding
  activities that optimize the development of individual and shared
  network germplasm products and builds capacity to share knowledge, best
  practices, training etc
• Capacity Building: Provide training and
  mentorship to breeding staff, partners and scholars on breeding
  techniques, methodologies, data analysis and scientific communication
• Resource Mobilisation: Contribute to or lead the development of research proposals and other fundraising activities
• Publication: Lead or contribute to publication of research results in international, refereed journals
• Reporting: Produce monthly and annual reports

Requirements

• The candidate should have a PhD in plant breeding, genetics, or a related field

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Core Competencies

• At least 10 years of experience in plant breeding
• Evidence of significant management skills including change management and management of successful breeding teams
• Experience applying quantitative genetics principles, genomics and latest breeding technologies is desired
• Experience working in the tropics will be considered favourably
• Experience with polyploid and perennials is an asset
• Strong networking and facilitating skills with focus on enabling and empowering others to succeed
• Demonstrated ability to work in multicultural and diverse environments
• Excellent interpersonal, analytical and organizational skills
• Successful experience and commitment to inclusive research design and implementation
• Evidence of experience in resource mobilization
• Excellent written and oral communication skills

Benefits
The
contract will be for an initial period of three years. IITA offers an
internationally competitive remuneration package paid in U.S. Dollars.

Applications:
Applications
must include a cover letter which should address how the candidate’s
background/experience relates to the specific duties of the position
applied for, curriculum vitae, and names and addresses of three
professional referees (which must include either the Head of the
applicant’s current or previous organization or applicant’s direct
Supervisor/Superior at his/her present or former place of work). The
application should be addressed to the Head of People and Culture.
Please complete our online application form using this link:
https://apply.workable.com/iita/#jobs

Closing Date: 28th July 2024
IITA
is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to building a diverse
workforce, particularly welcoming applications from women.
Go to our Homepage To Get Relevant Information.
While all applications will be acknowledged, please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.