Banana Breeding Lead – International Research Position

About the role

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture is seeking a senior leader to direct banana and plantain breeding activities across East, West, Central and Southern Africa. The incumbent will guide a multidisciplinary team to develop climate‑resilient, high‑yielding and nutritionally enhanced banana varieties that meet farmer and market needs.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate interdisciplinary research initiatives to advance banana and plantain crop improvement.
• Design and implement an effective breeding strategy, including elite material development and multi‑stage product advancement.
• Drive modernization of breeding programmes with support from Breeding Innovation Services and industry partners.
• Ensure alignment of the banana strategy with the Breeding for Tomorrow (B4T) framework.
• Integrate molecular, metabolomic tools and bioassays to accelerate selection efficiency.
• Develop and manage germplasm acquisition, distribution and collaborative evaluation with national partners.
• Coordinate multi‑location testing, data analysis and stage‑gate advancement aligned with target environments.
• Contribute to infrastructural development of breeding programmes in Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.
• Foster partnerships with national public breeding programmes and industry stakeholders.
• Utilise MusaBase and Bioflow for pedigree, trial and seed inventory management and analytics.
• Provide training, mentorship and capacity building for staff, partners and scholars.
• Lead resource mobilisation, proposal development and publication of research results.

Required profile

• Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience managing plant breeding programmes.
• Proven management skills, including change management and leading successful breeding teams.
• Ability to work effectively in a diverse, multicultural environment.
• Strong track record in resource mobilisation and securing research funding.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience in scientific publishing.

Required skills

• MusaBase for pedigree, nursery and trial management.
• Bioflow for raw data analysis.
• Molecular genetics tools.
• Metabolomic analysis techniques.
• Bioassays for disease and quality assessment.

What we offer

• Initial three‑year fixed‑term contract with an internationally competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.
• Equal‑opportunity workplace that actively encourages applications from women and diverse candidates.