Senior Scientist I - Bioinformatics & Genomics

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through rice science; improving the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers; and protecting the rice-growing environment for future generations. IRRI is an independent, nonprofit, research and educational institute, founded in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations with support from the Philippine government. The institute, headquartered in Los Baños, Philippines, has offices in 17 rice-growing countries in Asia and Africa, and over 1,000 staff.

Working with in-country partners, IRRI develops advanced rice varieties that yield more grain and better withstand pests and disease as well as flooding, drought, and other harmful effects of climate change.

Job Purpose

The Rice Breeding Innovations Platform will deliver on key priorities of IRRI’s and the One CG’s Strategic Plans in the areas of bioinformatics, future-ready genetic resources, applied functional genomics and phenomics, systems physiology and trait and genome engineering. This position will contribute to leadership in the domains of bioinformatics and multi-omics analyses, from genomics through proteomics as well as through field-based phenomics, and provide leadership and extend our expertise in these areas. Further, training and capacity development is a crucial dimension necessary to further IRRI’s and the One CG’s mandates, and this position will be engaged in capacity development through training delivery, courses, mentoring, and collaboration with UPLB and Korean Universities, as well as other institutes. Further, fostering strong collaborations, development of projects and linkages to One CG and other bioinformatics groups around the world is expected.

This position will be based at the IRRI Headquarters, Los Baños, Philippines and is open for international applications.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Engage partners for capacity development, training, courses, and mentoring to foster an improved host country relationship
• Manage key research areas/issues in bioinformatics and multi-omics and explore new initiatives on utilizing bioinformatics technologies for crop improvement
• Contribute in developing creative approaches and solutions for analysis, integration, and visualization of genome sequence, multi-omics, and phenotyping datasets, providing bioinformatic infrastructure and integrated public genetic diversity platform and tools for end-users who undertake gene and allele discovery
• Develop and promote research on computational analysis of biological data spanning genotypes, genomes, and genes from DNA, RNA to the protein level
• Lead efforts on projects and programs related to sequencing, gene-trait association analysis and predicting phenotypes from genomic data
• Lead contributions of other scientists and support staff in the unit and provide administrative support to its members
• Ensure delivery of outcomes aligned with the IRRI’s and the One CG’s vision, mission, values, target goals, policies and procedures
• Manage performance and mentor scientists, staff, and students
• Represent IRRI and the One CG in the global crop bioinformatics community, building on existing partnerships and forging new partnerships to speed progress through planned complementarity and synergy
• Collaborate with government, donors, R&D partners, private enterprise to align with client and donor expectations
• Maintain and proactively develop network and partnerships with potential donors
• In line with ongoing advances in omics and IT technologies, provide appropriate bioinformatic infrastructure, refine and update informatics pipelines for analysis of multi-omics data, facilitate gene discovery, allele mining, and genome annotation for their downstream applications to breeding
• Develop projects, strategies and plans for implementation and ensure alignment to IRRI’s and the One CG’s strategy, plan and priorities
• Supervise, coach and mentor scientific professional and support staff including PhD students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Scientists
• Publish and actively contribute to articles in peer-reviewed journals/digests that highlight findings from research and experiment activities showcasing the Institute’s scientific leadership
• Actively seek external funds and secure partnerships for research and development

Qualifications

• PhD in relevant discipline with at least 10 years of post-PhD experience

Skills Required

Mandatory

• Technically contributed to scientific field of expertise
• Has excellent research management experience
• Has demonstrated contribution to the delivery of strategies and plans of multiple projects
• Has outstanding leadership and organizational skills
• Demonstrated capacity development roles in teaching, training, and mentorship

Preferred

• Experience with rice
• Has international work experience

How to Apply:

Interested applicants must submit their applications on or before 31 January 2022, with latest CV and Cover Letter. Please click this link to submit your application.

Please note only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Women candidates are encouraged to apply.