Banana Breeding Lead

About the role

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) seeks a Banana Breeding Lead to provide strategic leadership, coordination and oversight of banana and plantain breeding activities across East, West, Central and Southern Africa. The role drives the development of climate‑resilient, high‑yielding and nutritionally enhanced banana varieties that meet farmer and market needs.

Key responsibilities

• Lead interdisciplinary research initiatives to advance banana and plantain crop improvement.
• Design and implement a breeding strategy to generate elite breeding material and advance candidate varieties.
• Modernise breeding programmes in partnership with the Breeding Innovation Services team and Bayer Crop Science.
• Ensure alignment of the banana strategy with the Breeding for Tomorrow (B4T) framework.
• Strengthen research quality by integrating molecular, metabolomic tools and bioassays.
• Develop and distribute germplasm in collaboration with national agricultural research systems and partners.
• Coordinate multi‑location stage‑gate testing, data analysis and product advancement processes.

Required profile

• Proven experience leading banana or plantain breeding programmes.
• Strong track record of coordinating interdisciplinary teams and stakeholder collaborations.
• Ability to align breeding activities with strategic frameworks and regional priorities.

Required skills

• Molecular breeding tools
• Metabolomic analysis
• Bioassays for trait selection
• Data analysis for multi‑location testing
• Germplasm collection and development

What we offer

• Opportunity to lead impactful research addressing food security in Africa.
• Collaboration with leading international research institutions.
• Access to modern breeding technologies and resources.