Careers at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

The Associate Program Director, SAS Discovery Research contributes to the coherence and design of projects within the program, reviews implementation of science and guides team and partnership development in support of implementation of the innovation development agenda of SAS. The role sets a bold research vision aligned with CIMMYT's Excellence in Science and Innovation objectives advancing systems and scaling science through transdisciplinary teams that bridge biological, environmental, economic, policy and social perspectives. The post holder is a scientific-leader with a strong record in scientific excellence, transdisciplinary project design and implementation, and cross disciplinary team leadership.

Purpose:

• Drive implementation of science projects and contribute to scientific leadership and strategic direction for the Discovery portfolio oriented toward rigorous, transdisciplinary research that makes agrifood systems more productive, inclusive, climate-resilient, and sustainable within planetary boundaries.
• Scientific vision: Contribute to defining and overseeing the execution of the SAS Discovery research strategy. Use country, farmer, market and policy priorities to guide portfolio choices and identify gaps, duplication and opportunities across projects.
• Systems research and transdisciplinarity: Lead and support research in systems and scaling science, and integrate agronomy, soil and environmental science, climate, economics, social science and nutrition, together with maize, wheat, dryland crops and genetic innovation programs.
• New science and technologies: Integrate advances in technology, data science, gender and inclusion research, and real-time feedback monitoring into research design and learning.
• Co-creation: Ensure farmers, national agricultural research systems, universities and the private sector help shape research questions, trials and tools, using participatory and design-thinking approaches.
• Scientific quality and compliance: Drive excellence in science ensuring compliance with standards for research design, implementation, and dissemination of outputs. Ensure appropriate peer review, research ethics, data integrity, reproducibility and responsible open science.
• Project lifecycle management: Lead, coordinate and contribute to development of competitive proposals including scientific donor engagement. Oversee project execution, contributing to oversight of donor reporting and sound fiscal management. Support the
• SAS Director in program-wide planning, budgeting and compliance. Monitor portfolio commitments, staff capacity and budget performance with project leaders, Program Managers and Finance; recommend corrective action and identify funding and costrecovery gaps.
• Talent: Contribute to the recruitment, development and mentoring of transdisciplinary teams, building a high-performance culture that supports scientific excellence, scientific equity and professional growth. Set clear objectives and provide performance feedback for direct reports; develop succession plans and future scientific leaders.
• Partnerships and influence: Build collaborations with national agricultural research systems, universities, the private sector and international centers. Represent CIMMYT's research at international forums and promote its scientific outputs.
• Interface with CIMMYT Systems Development Actions: Co-manage the handover of validated innovations to the Systems Development and Scaling APD, agreeing readiness criteria and feedback loops.
• Key outputs: An annual Discovery workplan and budget; a research portfolio with milestones and indicators; peer-reviewed publications and open datasets; funded proposals; donor reports; a pipeline of innovations rated for scaling readiness. Readiness reviews will consider evidence quality, farmer demand, inclusion, affordability and delivery feasibility; research engagement will continue during adaptation and scaling.

Requirements

• PhD in crop science, agronomy, soil science, agroecology, environmental or climate science, agricultural or development economics, sustainable development or a related field.
• At least 10 years of distinguished research leadership in an international research organization, academia or industry, including leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Proven interdisciplinary science leadership bridging biological, environmental, economic, policy and systems perspectives. A strong record of peer-reviewed publications and scientific contributions relevant to sustainable agrifood systems, together with evidence of developing scientific talent.
• Demonstrated success in securing funding and managing large research budgets and multi-partner projects.
• Strong international and developing-country experience, with a commitment to food security through systems approaches.
• Expertise in managing research within international legal frameworks and intellectual property agreements.
• Exceptional relationship-management, communication and advocacy skills; a resultsdriven, agile, collaborative and humble leadership style.
• The position will be based at a CIMMYT office in Latin America, Asia or Africa.

Benefits

• The position is for an initial fixed-term for three (3) years, after which further employment is subject to performance and the continued availability of funds. CIMMYT’s internationally competitive salary and benefits include housing allowance, car, comprehensive health and life insurance, assistance for children’s education, paid vacation, annual home travel airfare, contribution to a retirement plan, and generous assistance with relocation shipment.
   

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Purpose:

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Systems Development and Scaling portfolio of SAS, so that tested innovations are adopted at scale and contribute measurably to CIMMYT 2030 strategy, providing feedback and insights to improve innovation development within CIMMYT's Discovery portfolios.

Key accountabilities

Systems Development and Scaling vision and strategy:

• Define and execute the System
• Development strategy for SAS, aligned with CIMMYT's Excellence in Science and
• Innovation objectives, identifying high impact opportunity innovations, innovation combinations, countries and pathways using scaling science tools and approaches together with cost-benefit evidence. Strengthen coherence across country and regional projects so that investments build lasting institutional capacity and systems change.

Systems and scaling science:

• Contribute to research in scaling science, aligning outcome delivery with tangible and high-value monitoring and learning.

Delivery pathways:

• Embed innovations in public delivery systems (policy, extension, seed systems) and in market and enterprise systems (private distribution, value chains, digital platforms). Promote viable delivery models and partner ownership that can continue beyond project funding.

Finance:

• Build the investment case and pipeline to align innovations with government programs, development banks, climate finance, and private capital.

Enabling environment:

• Identify and co-develop opportunities to alleviate policy, regulatory, and institutional barriers to innovation adoption, working with national partners.

Partnerships and influence:

• Build equitable, long-term, impact-oriented partnerships with national agricultural research systems, universities, private sector players, international centers, non-governmental organizations, and international agencies.
• Advocate for CIMMYT's agenda in international forums and promote its outputs.

Inclusion and safeguards:

• Ensure system development and scaling activities actively consider broad inclusion of beneficiaries, document and mitigate barriers to participation and benefit sharing, agree safeguards and accountability arrangements with partners and relevant institutional functions, and manage legal, and intellectual property in partner agreements.

Funding and results:

• Lead and contribute to fundraising through projects, institutional partnerships, donor and private-sector engagement. Set targets and actively monitor scaling implementation and impacts.

Talent and operations:

• Mentor and lead multi-country, transdisciplinary teams; oversee budgeting, resource allocation and compliance; manage delivery, financial and reputational risk. Set objectives and review performance for direct reports, build successor capacity, and work with Program Managers and Finance to monitor commitments, partner delivery and cost recovery.

Interface with Discovery Research:

• Agree readiness criteria with the Discovery project
• leads and wider CIMMYT research programs, and feed field evidence, farmer feedback and demand signals back into research priorities.
• Support the SAS Director in program-wide planning.

Requirements

• PhD (or master's with exceptional experience) in agricultural or development economics, sustainable development, agricultural systems, rural development, agroecology, public policy or a related field.
• At least 10 years of distinguished leadership in agricultural development, scaling or program delivery in an international research or development organization, academia or industry.
• Proven interdisciplinary and cross-sector team leadership across multiple countries.
• Demonstrated experience across project design, implementation, performance management and evaluation, with evidence of sustained outcomes through public, private or civil-society delivery systems.
• Demonstrated success in securing funding, including public, development and private finance, and managing large

The position will be based at a CIMMYT office in Latin America, Asia or Africa.

Benefits

• The position is for an initial fixed-term for three (3) years, after which further employment is subject to performance and the continued availability of funds. CIMMYT’s internationally competitive salary and benefits include housing allowance, car, comprehensive health and life insurance, assistance for children’s education, paid vacation, annual home travel airfare, contribution to a retirement plan, and generous assistance with relocation shipment.