Ref No: DDG-R4D/BG/QGB/PD/03/26

On-site - IRS - Full time

Description

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the internationally recruited position of Banana Genomics and Quantitative Genetics Breeder (Post-Doc).

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  for more information on IITA.

Banana and plantains are the fourth most important food crop in the tropics, and their importance in Africa will further rise to become the second most important crop in Africa in terms of production value and volume. Therefore IITA is breeding plantain and highland cooking bananas to improve the livelihood of African farmers.

The successful candidate will contribute to the accelerated breeding of cooking banana and plantain through conventional and modern breeding techniques by integrating functional genomics, quantitative genetics, phenomics and bioinformatics methods that provide dynamic and responsive support to breeding including marker-assisted breeding and genomic selection, data management, and computational tools and extracting data from the pangenome.

Position Responsibilities

B4T AoW DESIGN

• Support the implementation of country improvement plans

B4T AoW DEVELOP

• Contribute to the development of improved banana through conventional and modern breeding techniques
• Develop and apply quantitative genetics and genomics including marker-assisted breeding and genomic selection, data management, and computational tools development for banana breeding
• Develop and apply bioinformatic tools to extract data from the pangenome to accelerate banana breeding
• Design and execute breeding agendas by coordinating breeding activities, design optimization and management of trials and experiments, modern data collection and curation techniques and tools
• Develop reproducible data analysis pipelines for management and analysis of phenotypic and genotypic data of key aspects in banana
• Integrate functional genomics, quantitative genetics, phenomics and bioinformatics methods that provide dynamic and responsive support to breeding
• Design and implement genotyping strategies to support Molecular Trait Discovery in banana and plantain breeding
• Support parental improvement and product development in banana and plantain breeding
• Foster the use of molecular tools as part of selecting plants in the banana breeding program by the IITA banana and plantain breeding programs, and the partners.
• Establish and manage a quality phenotyping lab to foster trait discovery and early-stage evaluation of the quality traits in matooke parental improvement
• Build the platform for genomic prediction as part of recycling in banana and plantain parental improvement
• Support the NARS in the Musa breeding networks to apply molecular tools, including MAS and QA/QC

B4T AoW SUPPORT (Breeding Resources)

• Interact with the B4T Breeding Resources team to accelerate the pace of the development and deployment of molecular tools in support of banana breeding
• Support standardized data management practices and documentation
• Support the continuous upgrading of MusaBase and BTracT (and eventually the transition to EBS and Bioflow), focusing especially on depositing and use of molecular data and associated phenotypic data.

B4T AoW ENABLE

• Provide support for impact assessment in farmer’s fields
• Contribute to capacity strengthening of NARS and regional partners
• Support effective partnerships and collaborative relationships with NARS, CGIAR, and ARIs, especially maintaining and intensifying the collaboration with East African NARS

Other responsibilities:

• Manage the molecular research staff in Arusha (Tanzania), Sendusu (Uganda) and Ibadan (Nigeria)
• Provide analytical support and training to breeders, technicians, and partners
• Mentor and backstop M.Sc. and Ph.D. students involved in related research
• Initiate and lead scientific outputs in peer-reviewed journals, technical reports, IITA Bulletins and other fora
• Head and contribute to resource mobilization in support of banana genetics

Requirements

Educational Qualifications

The candidate should have a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, or a related field

Core Competencies

• At least 5 years experience in banana improvement.
• Skilled in quantitative genetics and genomics including marker-assisted breeding, data management, and computational tools development.
• Statistical analysis of phenotypic and genotypic data in banana.
• Expertise in designing and executing breeding agendas by coordinating breeding activities, design and management of trials and experiments, modern data collection and curation techniques and tools use.
• Demonstrated banana breeding experience.
• Ability to work effectively with multicultural, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional teams.

Duty Station: Sendusu, Uganda.

Benefits

General information: The contract will be for an initial period of two years. IITA offers an internationally competitive remuneration package paid in US 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 Director, People and Culture. Please complete our online application form using this link:  https://apply.workable.com/iita/#jobs

Closing Date: April 3rd, 2026

IITA is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a diverse workforce, particularly welcoming applications from women.

While all applications will be acknowledged, please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.