Research Assistant - Breeding Data Management

Full Job Description

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture seeks suitable Nigeria nationals for the positions below at the Institute’s Headquarters in Ibadan.

Position: Research Assistant - Breeding Data Management

Contract: 3-years renewable contract

Location: Ibadan

Closing Date: 2 October 2026

DUTIES

· Support the Breeding Data Manager in the adoption, implementation, and routine use of the Enterprise Breeding System (EBS) for storing, managing, retrieving, and reporting breeding information.

· Assist breeding teams with electronic data capture, including the preparation, testing, and validation of digital field books and data-collection templates.

· Curate essential breeding data, including locations, traits, germplasm records, pedigrees, experimental metadata, and germplasm attributes, before loading them into EBS.

· Use R scripts or other reproducible tools for data cleaning, validation, duplicate identification, germplasm matching, site curation, data transformation, and routine reporting across breeding datasets.

· Execute database queries and extract data into approved templates, reports, dashboards, and other formats based on clearly defined requirements.

· Update and maintain Power BI dashboards for monitoring breeding activities, data quality, phenotypic-data completeness, germplasm information, experimental metadata, training activities, and other agreed performance indicators.

· Apply institutional and international research data management standards and best practices, including crop ontologies, trait dictionaries, standard phenotyping protocols, data-quality rules, controlled vocabularies, templates, and digital field books.

· Maintain appropriate documentation of data-curation activities, data uploads, analytical scripts, database queries, dashboard updates, quality-control results, user-support requests, and completed assignments.

· Prepare periodic updates on completed activities, data-quality findings, analytical outputs, dashboard status, user-support needs, system-related challenges, and recommended follow-up actions.

· Perform any other job-related duties that may be assigned by the Supervisor.

Requirements

QUALIFICATION

Bachelor’s degree or Higher National Diploma in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Agricultural Science, Plant Breeding, Bioinformatics, Information Technology, or a related discipline with a minimum of two (2) years’ of relevant experience in data management, database support, agricultural research, breeding-data management, or a related field will be an added advantage.

COMPETENCIES

The ideal candidate must have:

· Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, pivot tables, data validation, lookups, and data-cleaning functions.

· Working knowledge of R or Python for data cleaning, transformation, duplicate identification, descriptive statistics, visualization, and reproducible reporting.

· Ability to develop, update, and maintain Power BI dashboards, including data preparation, data modeling, visualization, filtering, and routine refreshes.

· Working knowledge of SQL and the ability to query relational databases, extract required information, and populate approved reporting templates.

· Ability to perform basic descriptive and exploratory analyses, including frequencies, means, ranges, measures of variability, missing-data assessments, and comparisons across trials, locations, seasons, and breeding pipelines.

· Familiarity with electronic data-collection tools, digital field books, standardized templates, trait dictionaries, crop ontologies, and phenotyping protocols.

· Familiarity with the Enterprise Breeding System, BreedBase, BrAPI-enabled applications, or other breeding data-management platforms would be an advantage.

· Ability to document scripts, data-processing procedures, quality-control checks, dashboard indicators, and user-support activities.

Benefits

REMUNERATION

We offer highly competitive salary with equally attractive benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant campus environment.

METHOD OF APPLICATION

Interested applicants should complete the online application attaching detailed cover letter and curriculum vitae saved with their names in Microsoft word format to IITA website: https://apply.workable.com/iita/#jobs no later than Two Weeks from the date of this publication.

IITA is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a diverse workforce, particularly welcoming applications from women. While all applications will be acknowledged, please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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