The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, known by its Spanish acronym, CIMMYT®, is a not-for-profit research and training organization with partners in over 100 countries

Specific duties

Collaboration and Coordination:

• Collaborate with CGIAR breeding teams, Genetic Innovation (GI) Initiatives, and their Work Packages.
• Indirectly report to and oversee select labs, Service Managers, and regional Service Coordinators.
• Liaise and coordinate with members of the Breeding Research Services (BRS) Management Team.

Leadership and Development:

• Lead the development of a business model to operationalize genotyping and analytical shared services, ensuring long-term sustainability.
• Lead regional service labs and staff members to coordinate and operationalize lab shared services.
• Develop and operationalize a transition plan for selecting regional labs and capacities in alignment with the new BRS operating model under GI.
• Lead lab service demand forecasting activities to ensure optimal usage, cost, and service requirements are met.

Management and Oversight:

• Oversee budget management for the annual lab services team across Centers and regions.
• Manage BRS – Global Shared Services (GSS) lab service activities, including:
• Establishing and managing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Establishing a framework and leading the CGIAR/NARES molecular breeding capacity assessment.
• Working closely with the BRS leadership team to design services and negotiate contracts with internal and external providers, ensuring up-to-date lab service offerings.
• Foster stakeholder engagement with Breeding Leads, Initiative Leads, and Center leadership to ensure smooth operation and coordination of lab services.

Capacity Building and Fundraising:

• Develop and oversee a capacity development and staffing plan for lab services.
• Manage budget and fundraising efforts to support the enhancement of lab services.

Requirements

• A Ph.D. in life sciences or related fields, or an MBA with comparable experience in managing Research & Development (R&D) services for product development. MSc. in life science related fields candidates will also be considered.
• Hands-on experience (10 years) in applied breeding and applications of molecular and analytical tools.
• Business acumen and experience in managing global or regional services for R&D.
• Budget management and resource mobilization experience in multi-national or international organization.
• Leadership experience in complex or multi-stakeholder organization.
• Skills in multi-disciplinary team building.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Public and private partnership experience.
• Private sector or seed industry experience.
• International work experience.
• The selected requires the following competencies: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Teamwork, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making