Job Description

CIMMYT is a cutting edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrow's problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of production systems and basic cereals such as maize, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millets, and associated crops through applied agricultural science, particularly in the Global South, through building strong partnerships. This combination enhances the livelihood trajectories and resilience of millions of resource-poor farmers, while working towards a more productive, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system within planetary boundaries. CIMMYT is a core CGIAR Research Center, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources.

For more information, visit cimmyt.org

Objective of the Post

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated candidate for the position of Assistant Research Associate to be based in our Southern Africa Office in Harare, Zimbabwe. This is a nationally recruited position and is open to all Zimbabweans with excellent academic records. This position will support the implementation of managed stress phenotyping and on-farm trial activities, ensuring high-quality physiological and agronomic data collection. The role will also strengthen compilation, quality control, curation, analysis-ready formatting, and upload of breeding data into digital breeding data management platforms including EBS.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Regional On-Farm Trial Implementation

• Coordinate and implement regional on-farm trials with farmers, NARS, seed companies and research partners
• Ensure trials follow approved protocols for design, planting, management, monitoring and data collection
• Conduct field visits, provide technical guidance, and support harvesting, yield measurement and documentation of field conditions

2. Stress Phenotyping and Physiology

• Support development and implementation of standardized phenotyping and physiological data collection protocols
• Operate and calibrate field tools such as sensors, GPS devices, moisture meters, weather stations and digital data collection tools.
• Train field teams and ensure accurate, high quality physiological and environmental data collection across trial sites.

3. Data Management, Quality Assurance and EBS Support

• Support electronic data capture, data cleaning, validation and quality assurance using EBS Fieldbook, Kobo Collect, ODK and other approved digital platforms.
• Compile, curate and upload phenotypic, agronomic, environmental and farmer feedback datasets into EBS and related breeding data systems.
• Ensure datasets are standardized, traceable, analysis-ready and properly documented to support reporting, breeding decisions and data integration

4. Logistics and Operations

• People and process management of all field activities across sites
• Monitor inputs, equipment and materials required for field operations
• Ensure compliance with safety and operational guidelines

5. Reporting and Documentation

• Maintain field books, trial maps, and activity records.
• Contribute to routine progress reports and summaries.
• Document deviations and field observations clearly.
• Any other duties that may be allocated by the supervisor

Requirements

• MSc in Crop Science, Seed Systems, Data Science in Agriculture or related field
• Clean Class 4 Drivers Licence and a valid Defensive Driving Certificate.
• At least 3 years’ experience in agricultural research and field operations (experience in crop physiology/phenotyping and data management will be an added advantage).
• Basic understanding of plant physiology
• Experience with field trail management and data collection
• Familiarity with digital data collection tools is an added advantage
• Knowledge of data handling tools and programs e.g. EBS for data uploading and cleaning
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy
• Good understanding of field research and trial quality control
• Ability to troubleshoot field and data problems, work independently with limited supervision and commitment to timely delivery of high-quality outputs.
• Ability to train and mentor field teams.
• Integrity and accountability in handling research data
• The selected candidate must be able to demonstrate the following competencies: good communication, teamwork and ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.

Benefits

• Private Health Insurance
• Pension Plan
• Paid Time Off
• Training & Development