ILRI Bioinformatician Job

Vacancy Number: RT/BecA/04/2013
Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: 2 years with the possibility of renewal

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to enhance the roles livestock play in pathways out of poverty in developing countries. ILRI has two main campuses in East Africa and other hubs in East, West and southern Africa and South, Southeast and East Asia. http://www.ilri.org/.

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. http://www.cgiar.org/

ILRI also manages the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub, the centre for excellence in modern plant and animal biology in Africa.  BecA is an initiative developed within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)/ African Union African Biosciences initiative. It consists of a Hub based on the ILRI campus in Nairobi, Kenya and a network of regional nodes and other affiliated laboratories and organizations throughout the region.  The BecA Hub facilities are world class, including a range of molecular, plant transformation, and genomics laboratories and equipment (e.g. 454 sequencing, Biosafety level 3 laboratory, plant growth facilities).  The Hub hosts and conducts research in crop, microbe and livestock areas where new developments in science offer promise to address previously intractable problems constraining Africa’s development.  Capacity building is a major goal of all activities. The scope covers agriculture and food security and their intersections with human health and nutrition, and the sustainable use of Africa’s natural resources.  Further information is available at http://hub.africabiosciences.org/

Job purpose

In hosting the BecA Hub on a shared research platform, ILRI seeks to recruit a Bioinformatician to provide high level data interpretation and analysis to various projects and support capacity building at the BecA-ILRI hub.

Responsibilities

• Proven ability to interpret and analyze large data sets and present results synthetically;
• Evidence of working directly with wet laboratories to perform analyses;
• Design, implement and manage database(s) to store sequence data and associated metadata;
• Processing and analysing data using a wide range of tools (including BLAST, sequence assemblers, MIRA)
• Use scripting to aid and automate analysis;
• Participate in institutional training and seminars;
• Contributing to capacity building activities.

Skills and Competencies

• Master’s in Bioinformatics, computer science or related field;
• 1 year work experience in a bioinformatics position;
• Knowledge of Genetics, Biotechnology and their applications;
• Knowledge in SQL and scripting languages (PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby and R);
• Demonstrate experience working and developing in a Linux environment;
• Excellent written English and a familiarity with presenting biological results.

Terms of Appointment

This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position based at ILRI’s Nairobi campus.  The position is on a 2 year contract with the possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and continued funding.

Job level and salary

This position is job Grade 2C with a starting gross salary of KES 116,417 per month. This is exclusive of other benefits provided by ILRI.

Location: The position will be based at the ILRI campus in Nairobi, Kenya.

How to Apply
Applicants should send a cover letter and CV combined as one document addressed to the Human Resources Director, 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 by 8th May, 2013.  Log on to: http://www.myjobsinkenya.com/ilri_jobs. The position title and reference number REF: RT/BecA/04/2013 should be clearly marked on the cover letter. Only online applications will be considered, and only short listed candidates will be contacted.

To find out more about ILRI and the BecA Hub, visit our websites at http://www.ilri.org/ andhttp://hub.africabiosciences.org/

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/ilricrowd/

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer.