Senior Scientist, Lead Plant Breeder at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

The position shall lead and manage a range of activities under the newly established Integrated Genotyping Service and Support (IGSS) at the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub.

Lead Plant Breeder Job Responsibilities

• Work in collaboration with the DArT team (www.diversityarrays.com) to deliver on the IGSS project, which aims to increase the effectiveness of cultivar development in Africa by applying genomic data.
• These activities include efficient and effective driving of cultivar development through molecular breeding simulation, decision support tools, biometric and bioinformatics analyses using appropriate software packages (SAS, Genstat, R…)
• Partner and collaborate with African NARS breeders and other breeders (in the CGIAR system) to develop the IGSS service offering that responds to needs for efficiency and precision in cultivar development.
• Service offers include development of a product profile, implementation of the developed cultivar development pipeline for key traits across various crops, development of accurate phenotyping methodologies of a wide range of agronomic quantitative and qualitative traits across various crops, and application of double haploid and other rapid crop improvement technologies.
• Serve as a liaison between the genotyping and bioinformatics service provider (IGSS/DArT) and the plant breeding user community.
• Contribute to the application of genomics tools to support cultivar development or elite germplasm characterization with a focus on traits of importance in African agriculture.
• Contribute to building the capacity in African NARS focusing on strategies to modernize strong breeding programs.
• Participate in resource mobilization activities including donor relations and proposal development.

Requirements for the Lead Plant Breeder Job

• Ph.D. degree in plant breeding and/or related disciplines;
• At least 5-7 years post-doctoral experience;
• Significant background in quantitative and/or statistical genetics;
• Significant experience working as a plant breeder in a cultivar development program routinely using molecular marker data and modern IT tools;
• Strong interest in and commitment to African agricultural research and development;
• Ability to work well as part of multidisciplinary teams and to travel, including for training in Australia.