Research Technician, ASSP

Vacancy Number: RT/ASSP/06/14
Department: Biosciences
Duration: 2 years’ contract

ILRI seeks to recruit a Research Technician to manage the collection and analysis of quantitative genetics data for reporting by the Research Scientist.

ILRI works to enhance the roles livestock play in pathways out of poverty in developing countries. ILRI is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Consortium, a global research partnership of 15 centers working with many partners for a food-secure future. ILRI has two main campuses in East Africa and other hubs in West and southern Africa and South and Southeast Asia. 

The Centre’s headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, and research is conducted in 31 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We are supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and receive funding from over 50 different donors.

CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. 

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical input and support in quantitative data related to animal genetic resources compilation, safe storage, and analyses of the data collected and collated.
• Provide support in management, processing and use of livestock databases and data using MySQL.
• Contribute to developing and testing platforms for sourcing and collating livestock production information from diverse farming systems;
• Follow-up documentation, contact details, networking arrangements between various partners;
• Contribute to research outputs and scientific reporting related to livestock genetics and breeding information in project countries under supervision of scientists;
• Undertake literature reviews on livestock genetic resources and their improved use in developing countries;
• Organise and contribute to capacity building through relevant supportive training in animal breeding and genetic data collection and management, group discussions and provision of feedbacks to livestock keepers and industries players.
• Participate in institutional training and seminars.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Animal Production related field with specialization in Animal Genetics and Breeding, or an MSc in Statistics related to biological systems;
• Good knowledge of statistics, some programming, MS Office and working with large databases;
• Experience with computer software for quantitative data analyses such as SAS, Stata, Genstat, R;
• Experience in a research environment, producing project reports and training manuals;
• Ability to work independently with internal and external stakeholders;
• Good organization and problem solving skills;
• Good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work in a fast paced environment with interdisciplinary teams of scientist and partners organisation
• Ability to handle electronic data entry and data management
• Willingness to travel frequently

Terms of appointment:

This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) positions based at ILRI’s Nairobi campus and is for a 2 years’ contract period.

Job level and salary: 

This position is job level 2C with a starting salary of KES116,417 per month. In addition ILRI currently offers medical insurance for staff and dependents, Life insurance, Pension at 12.5% employers contribution, Annual holiday entitlement of 30 days+ public holidays within ILRI’s National Recruited Staff Scheme.

How to apply:

Applicants should send a cover letter and CV explaining their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Human Resources Director through our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ before 20 June 2014. The position title and reference number REF: RT/ASSP/06/14 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the online application.

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer