Barley Breeder

Reports to: Program Leader – SRP2: Climate-Smart Crops
Location: Rabat, Morocco

Purpose of the position

ICARDA seeks an accomplished and visionary Barley Breeder to lead its globally recognized barley improvement program. ICARDA’s barley breeding program serves farmers across dryland production systems, where barley is essential for food, feed, and market products such as malting. The Barley Breeder will be responsible for delivering improved barley germplasm adapted to stress-prone environments with high and stable yields, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and superior end-use quality.

The selected candidate will apply state-of-the-art breeding approaches, including genomic selection, speed breeding, high-throughput phenotyping, and modern biometric designs, to maximize genetic gain. The position requires strong leadership to manage staff, foster national and international partnerships, secure funding, and ensure ICARDA barley lines are widely adopted by national programs.

About ICARDA                                                                                                                

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) is a treaty-based international non-profit research organization supported by CGIAR.  
ICARDA’s mission is to reduce poverty, enhance food, water, and nutritional security, as well as environmental health in the face of global challenges including climate change. We do this through innovative science, strategic partnerships, linking research to development and capacity development that take into account gender equality and the role of youth in transforming the dry areas. ICARDA works in partnership with governments, universities, civil society, national agricultural research organization, other CGIAR Research Centers, and the private sector. With its temporary Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, ICARDA operates in regional and country offices across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. For more information: www.icarda.org.

Main responsibilities           

Program Leadership

·       Lead the ICARDA barley breeding program, including strategic planning, implementation, and staff development.

·       Oversee the development of barley germplasm for stress resilience (drought, heat, salinity, diseases) and high market value (feed, food, malting).

Scientific Innovation

·       Implement modern breeding tools (genomic selection, marker-assisted breeding, HTP, advanced biometrics).

·       Accelerate breeding cycles and increase selection accuracy by integrating genomics, phenomics, and predictive analytics.

·       Maintain and expand the Barley Breeding Toolbox as a global reference platform.

Collaboration & Partnerships

·       Develop strong partnerships with national agricultural research systems (NARS) to ensure adoption and release of ICARDA-derived varieties.

·       Establish collaborations with global Centers of Excellence, CGIAR initiatives, and Universities.

·       Represent ICARDA at international fora (IBGS, IWC, Eucarpia, etc.).

Fundraising & Resource Mobilization

·       Develop competitive research proposals for bilateral and multilateral donors.

·       Secure external funding to sustain and expand the barley program.

Visibility & Impact

·       Publish high-impact scientific papers in leading journals.

·       Ensure barley program outputs contribute visibly to ICARDA’s SRP2 and CGIAR’s global breeding initiatives.

Requirements

Education, qualifications, and experience

·       PhD in cereal genetics, genomics, or breeding, with expertise in barley preferred.

·       Minimum 10 years of proven experience in cereal breeding, including 5 years managing a breeding program.

·       Demonstrated expertise in genomic selection, speed breeding, and modern statistical/biometric approaches.

·       Strong publication record with H-index ≥15.

·       Proven experience in fundraising and project leadership.

·       International exposure with presentations at leading fora (IBGS, IWC, Eucarpia).

·       Proficiency in English (spoken and written); knowledge of French or Arabic is an asset.

Benefits

Terms of appointment, salary, and benefits

This is an internationally recruited staff position for which ICARDA offers an attractive compensation package including a competitive salary, medical insurance, 30 days of annual leave, five months’ maternity leave, 15 days’ paternity leave. The successful candidate will be offered an initial contract of 3 years, renewable subject to continued need for the position, availability of funds and satisfactory performance. The first year will be probationary period.

Please be advised that ICARDA accepts applications only in English, as per the organization’s standard communication language. Applications in other languages will not be considered.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.