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.

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.

Benefits

Rewards

• Impact: Play a pivotal role in enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability in West Africa and the Sahel.
• Innovation: Be at the forefront of large-scale adoption of science and technology-based solutions for improving African agriculture.
• Collaboration: Work with a dedicated team passionate about making a difference from scientists and extensionists to companies of all sizes and government policy makers.
• Growth: Opportunities for professional development and career advancement within a dynamic and growing organization.

Duty Station: IITA HQ, Ibadan, Nigeria with expectation of extensive travel across West Africa.

General information: The contract will be for an initial period of three years. IITA offers an internationally competitive remuneration package paid in US Dollars. 

Applications: Applications must include a cover letter which should address how the candidate’s background/experience relates to the specific duties of the position applied for, curriculum vitae, and names and addresses of three professional referees (which must include the applicant’s direct Supervisor/Superior at his/her present or most recent former place of work). The application should be addressed to the Head of People and Culture and copied to the Interim Director of the Hub. Please complete our online application form using this link: https://apply.workable.com/iita/#jobs

Closing Date: 1st January 2025

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.