Jobs at IITA - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

The Senior Data Scientist will be responsible for strategy development, technical oversight, scientific coordination, and reporting for all data science aspects of the Regional Hub’s core activities with a leading role for four of the Hub’s 20 Functions.

• Dashboard for soil health and fertilizer.
• Rationalize, harmonize and update the repository of knowledge products.
• Site-specific nutrient management recommendation models.
• Knowledge resources and databases.

We are seeking candidates with a strong background and extensive experience in applying advanced machine learning and modeling techniques to enhance decision-making for site-specific agronomic advisory. This position will provide critical leadership in the design, development, and implementation of decision support tools (DSTs) for agronomic management and climate adaptation across multiple projects. The successful candidate will work collaboratively to develop actionable, climate-informed agronomic advisories, and assist partners to adopt and scale them with millions of farmers across our target region.

The ideal candidate will combine deep expertise in data science, statistical models, and crop modeling with a strategic understanding of agronomy, crop physiology, and soil-plant-atmosphere interactions. This position requires a proven leader who can drive the development and deployment of DSTs and establish diverse partnerships across organizations, sectors and geographies. Additionally, the Senior Data Scientist will play a key role in helping build team and partner capacity and in supporting the core project management team through reporting, fundraising, and creating project visibility. The successful candidate is expected to support and adhere to open and FAIR data and code practices to the extent possible, given some incoming resources may have proprietary constraints.

Position Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership and Team Management: Lead the development of technical capability across the Hub, including an inventory of tools, solutions and guidelines to enable rapid and deep response to priority demands from target countries for implementing agronomic solutions at scale. Lead and mentor a network of data scientists and modelers in designing, testing, and deploying DSTs. Foster a collaborative and innovative team environment that encourages knowledge sharing and technical excellence.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Building: Lead scientific engagement with national and regional partners across West Africa and the Sahel with a particular focus on effective contribution and use of regional data-based resources. Engage with partners in academic organizations, NGOs, CGIAR, national programs and the private sector, as well as investors, government agencies, and other stakeholders to identify knowledge gaps, define requirements, and develop impactful, scalable solutions for climate-smart agriculture. 
• Developing Decision Support Tools (DSTs): Oversee the design and implementation of robust, modular DSTs that integrate process-based and empirical crop models. Ensure DSTs are scalable, user-centered, and effective for various extension platforms. Work with the Senior Agronomist to coordinate the expansion and improvement of site-specific nutrient management recommendation models to cover all priority cropping systems and countries across West Africa and the Sahel.
• Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing: Lead training and capacity-building efforts for partners and team members around crop modeling and data science techniques, helping to build expertise across technical partners, national institutions, delivery channels, and organizations.
• Delivering Impactful Technologies: Lead the Regional Hub's technical engagement with demand-driven delivery programs in target countries. Contribute to the development or adoption of country-specific solutions tailored to the local context and needs. Provide technical input as required by scaling experts working on bundling solutions and training experts working.
• Project Management and Reporting: Support the core project management team in tracking milestones, preparing reports, and maintaining strong visibility of project outcomes. Lead scientific writing and publication efforts to disseminate project results.
• Grant Proposal Development and Fundraising: Actively participate in and lead the development of grant proposals to secure funding for high-priority research initiatives. Identify opportunities for new funding streams to support project expansion and innovation.
• Technical Oversight and Quality Assurance: Provide oversight for digital platform development, ensuring adherence to best practices in design, security, and scalability. Guide the implementation of data pipelines and workflows, maintaining quality control across all stages of the data lifecycle.

Key Skills

• An agile and strategic thinker with a mission-driven approach and an entrepreneurial spirit
• Ability to engage diverse partners and stakeholders across disciplines, sectors and geographies.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive under complexity and uncertainty and take calculated risks.
• Understanding of the regional agribusiness context and experience working with small-scale farmers at scale in West Africa and the Sahel.
• Proven ability to translate complex data analyses into actionable insights to influence decision-making.
• Use visualization and narrative to make data understood by various audiences. 
• Encourage and promote critical thinking with multidisciplinary teams. 

Requirements

 Educational Qualifications 

• Advanced Degree in a computational field such as Data Science or Statistics or a related discipline.

Core Competencies & Experience

This role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on agriculture in Africa by driving innovations in climate-smart decision-making tools. If you are a forward-thinking data scientist with a strong record of leadership and a passion for advancing sustainable agriculture, we encourage you to apply.

• Extensive Technical Expertise: Strong expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning, AI and crop modeling. Experience with process-based models and their application to agronomic decision-making is essential.
• Proven Leadership Experience: Demonstrated success in leading multidisciplinary and multisector teams and managing cross-functional projects. Strong skills in mentoring and capacity-building, with experience in agile development processes and project management.
• Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Skills: Excellent written and oral communication skills with a track record of effective collaboration with diverse stakeholders, including government, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in Python, R, and other relevant programming languages. Experience with version control (Git), cloud platforms, and tools for handling large datasets (e.g., climate and soil data).
• Adaptability and Solution-Orientation: A proactive problem solver with the ability to adapt to changing project needs and priorities.
• Project and Grant Management: Experience in securing funding, managing grants, and delivering project reports for investors. Strong organizational skills to manage project timelines and budgets.
• Language Skills: Fluency in spoken and written English is required, and proficiency in French is preferred

go to method of application »

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the internationally recruited position of Senior Agronomist for the Regional Hub for Fertilizer and Soil Health in West Africa and the Sahel.

This is a unique opportunity to impact smallholder farmers, agricultural development, and the agribusiness sector through an innovative approach that is capable of leveraging more than a billion dollars of investment in improving soil health across the region.

Hosted on the IITA campus in Ibadan, Nigeria, the Regional Hub operates as an ECOWAS subprogram, with initial funding from the World Bank (through its AICCRA program) and OCP Africa plus on-going discussions with a pipeline of other investors across sectors. The Regional Hub aims to improve long-term soil health and fertility for enhanced yield and incomes, efficient resource use, and climate resilience. The Regional Hub is a public-private partnership tasked with driving holistic solutions at scale through engaging entire value chains across country priorities.

The Senior Agronomist will be responsible for strategy development, technical oversight, scientific coordination, and reporting for all agronomy aspects of the Regional Hub’s core activities with a leading role for six of the Hub’s 20 Functions and contributions to others.

• Rapid and efficient monitoring of delivery of agronomic gain.
• Appropriate deployment of bio-fertilizers.
• Bundling necessary services.
• Farmer-led experimentation.
• Certification scheme for agronomy recommendations.
• Policy development and implementation and decision-making processes.

The Senior Agronomist will be an internationally recruited professional with diverse experience in managing large, multidisciplinary projects across diverse cropping systems and countries in Africa. As a contributor to the Hub’s scientific strategy and coordinator of agronomic activities, the role requires a good understanding of technical and scientific aspects to ensure scientific and technical best practices are maintained. These technical skills need to be balanced with a strong appreciation of the requirements for the successful scaling of agronomic solutions to millions of farmers through both public and private delivery channels.

As a project manager, it is essential for the individual to possess strong administrative skills, collaborative teamwork abilities, and the capacity to develop and enhance the skills of team members across the Consortium. The successful candidate will report to the Director of the Regional Hub and work closely with other technical and delivery specialists across the Consortium. 

Position Responsibilities  

• Lead development of technical capability across the Hub including inventory of agronomic solutions, guidelines and tools to enable rapid and deep response to priority demands from target countries for implementation of agronomic solutions at scale.
• Work with the senior data scientist to develop and update digital soil nutrient and soil health resources, and maximize their adoption and effective use at scale by target countries.
• Lead the scientific engagement with national and regional partners across West Africa and the Sahel with a particular focus on ISFM (Integrated Soil Fertility Management) framework and 4R Nutrient Stewardship (right source, right rate, right time, right place) including new soil survey programs.
• Work with the Senior Data Scientist to coordinate the expansion and improvement of site-specific nutrient management recommendation models to cover all priority cropping systems and countries across West Africa and the Sahel.
• Contribute to the development of agronomy/soil science capacity building programs with national partners.
• Lead the technical engagement of the Regional Hub with the demand-driven delivery programs in target countries. Contribute to the development or adoption of country-specific solutions tailoring to the local context and needs.
• Lead the continuous integration of new agronomic and/ or soil health solutions into the inventory of the regional hub. 
• Work with the Hub team, IITA MELIA team and relevant project partners on KPI’s and quality assurance of priority processes and solutions. 
• Coordinate with the MELIA lead on monitoring agronomic gain across all projects and reporting aggregate impact from Hub-associated activities.
• Provide technical input as required by scaling experts working on bundling of solutions, and training experts working on a certification scheme for agronomy advisors.

Key Skills 

•  An agile and strategic thinker with a mission-driven approach and an entrepreneurial spirit.
•  Ability to engage diverse partners and stakeholders across disciplines, sectors and geographies.
•  Demonstrated ability to thrive under complexity and uncertainty and take calculated risk.
•  Understanding of the regional agribusiness context and experience working with small-scale farmers at scale in West Africa and the Sahel.
•  Active listening to allow the presentation of complex subjects into simple terms tailored to different audiences.
•  Ability to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and interdisciplinary dialogue between technical experts (chemists, engineers, economists, etc) and farmers and policymakers. 
•  Demonstrated capacity to promote farmer centric design to ensure solutions to soil health issues and efficient use of fertilizers are context specific, easy to implement and cost effective.

Requirements

Demonstrated capacity to promote farmer centric design to ensure solutions to soil health issues and efficient use of fertilizers are context specific, easy to implement and cost effective.

Educational Qualifications  

The candidate should have a PhD in soil science, agronomy, or a related field with a strategic understanding of recent advances in agronomically relevant data science including geospatial data that enable deploying site-specific solutions and experience of delivering advisory to tens of thousands of farmers in public, non-profit or private sectors. 

Core Competencies  

• Demonstrated experience in practical and theoretical agronomy of major field crops in Africa.
• At least 10 years of experience in soil science or agronomy with a minimum of 5 years in team management roles including coordination of complex partnerships and management of successful field campaign teams.
• Experience working with partners from academia, NGOs, CGIAR centers, national agricultural research centers and private sector in the context of smallholder farming systems in Africa.
• Demonstrated ability to work in multicultural and diverse environments.
• Excellent interpersonal, analytical and organizational skills with evidence of good relationships with diverse stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multidisciplinary and multisector of teams of experts.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and French.
• Strong computation skills including geospatial analyses and modelling will be an added advantage.

go to method of application »

The Junior Data Scientist will contribute to a wide range of projects under the Regional Hub’s core activities with a particular focus on six of the Hub’s 20 Functions.

• Access and utilize digital soil health and fertilizer maps.
• Dashboard for soil health and fertilizer.
• Site-specific nutrient management recommendation models.
• Knowledge resources and databases.
• Rapid and efficient monitoring of delivery of agronomic gain.
• Farmer-led experimentation.

We are seeking candidates with a background in applying advanced machine learning and modeling techniques to enhance decision-making, preferably with some experience with applications for site-specific agronomic advisory. This position will support the design, development, and implementation of decision support tools (DSTs) for agronomic management and climate adaptation across multiple projects. The success advisories will work collaboratively to develop actionable, climate-informed agronomic advisories and assist partners to adopt and scale them with millions of farmers across our target region.

The ideal candidate will combine expertise in data science and statistical models, preferably with experience in crop modeling and remote sensing, preferably with an understanding of agriculture in Africa. The Junior Data Scientist will support project management needs, including engaging with partners, providing input to reporting, fundraising, capacity development, user testing, and project visibility needs. Experience working across organizations, sectors and geographies would be a benefit. The successful candidate is expected to support and adhere to open and FAIR data and code practices to the extent possible, given some incoming resources may have proprietary constraints.

Position Responsibilities 

• Team Contribution: Work effectively with a network of data scientists and modelers, sharing knowledge, code, and technical expertise. Be open and willing to learn on the job from team colleagues, while championing and practicing open and fair, well-documented data and code and best practices.
• Developing Decision Support Tools (DSTs): Contribute to the design and implementation of robust, modular DSTs that integrate process-based and empirical crop models. Process data using the Carob workflow and contribute to the design and development of analytical solutions for scalable decision support through modular tools that integrate process-based and empirical models and/or remote sensing. Contribute to making DSTs scalable, user-centered, and effective for various extension platforms. Engage with agronomists and other field specialists in the expansion and improvement of site-specific nutrient management recommendation models to cover all priority cropping systems and countries across West Africa and the Sahel.
• Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing: Support training and capacity-building efforts for partners and team members around analytical techniques, helping to build expertise across technical partners, national institutions and delivery channels organizations.
• Delivering Impactful Technologies: Contribute to the development or adoption of country-specific solutions tailoring to the local context and needs. Provide technical input as required by scaling experts working on bundling of solutions, and training experts working.
• Project Management and Reporting: Contribute as required by the core project management team in tracking milestones, preparing reports, and maintaining strong visibility of project outcomes. Assure where appropriate that data and code are published in open repositories, and lead/contribute to open access publications to disseminate project results.
• Grant Proposal Development and Fundraising: Actively participate in the development of grant proposals to secure funding for high-priority research and delivery initiatives. Contribute ideas for new approaches and new sources of to enhance innovation and develop partnerships with new cutting-edge researchers and practitioners.
• Quality Assurance: Contribute to ensuring adherence to best practices in design, security, and scalability. Provide input on the implementation of data pipelines and workflows, maintaining quality control across all stages of the data lifecycle.

Key Skills

• An agile and strategic thinker with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive under complexity and uncertainty.
• Ability to understand the needs and deliver scalable solutions for small-scale farmers.
• Proven capacity in data cleaning and data analysis to ensure high-quality outputs.
• Ability to develop basic skills in data storytelling tailored to internal team discussions.
• Agile self-learner who is not afraid to ask questions to clarify tasks and reduce/avoid predictable inefficiencies at the execution stage.

Requirements

Educational Qualifications 

•  Advanced Degree in a computational field such as Data Science or Statistics or a related discipline.

Core Competencies & Experience

This role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on agriculture in Africa by driving innovations in climate-smart decision-making tools. If you are a forward-thinking data scientist with a strong record of leadership and a passion for advancing sustainable agriculture, we encourage you to apply.

• Extensive Technical Expertise: Demonstrated expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning and AI, preferably with experience in crop modeling and remote sensing. Experience with process-based models and their application to agronomic decision-making is preferred.
• Team Experience: Demonstrated success from working with multidisciplinary and multisector teams and within cross-functional projects. Experience in capacity-building and agile development processes would be an advantage.
• Communication Skills: Strong spoken and written English communication skills are essential; proficiency in French would be a significant benefit. Experience in communicating with diverse organizations across geographies and sectors would be beneficial.
• Technical Skills: High proficiency in Python, R, and other relevant programming languages. Experience with version control (Git), cloud platforms, and tools for handling large datasets (e.g., climate and soil data) would be an advantage.
• Adaptability and Solution-Orientation: A proactive problem solver with the ability to adapt to changing project needs and priorities.
• Project and Grant Management: Strong organizational skills, ability to understand and grasp needs quickly, work independently and deliver results according to project timelines.