[BioC] Bioinformatics position in CIAT, Colombia

[Sarah Ayling]

The International Center for Tropical Agriculture – CIAT, is one of
the 15 not-for-profit Centers funded by various countries, private
foundations, international and regional organizations that make up the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

We are seeking applications for a Researcher in Bioinformatics. The
position offers an outstanding career opportunity for a researcher
interested in genomics in the context of international agriculture.
The researcher will be part of a multidisciplinary team working on
genetic improvement of beans, cassava, forage grass species and rice.
The position will be based in CIAT Headquarters (Palmira, Colombia).

Role and responsibilities

* Developing and running pipelines for the assembly/alignment of next
generation sequencing data, variant detection and annotation for
CIAT's mandate crops: bean, cassava, forages and rice.
* Perform genetic mapping and genome wide association studies (GWAS)
to identify markers for use in marker assisted breeding.
* Help with the design and management of phenotyping databases.
* Supervise the continued development of CIAT's LIMS.
* Supervise assistants and students in bioinformatics both visiting
and from within CIAT.
* Contribute to the design of the scientific program and IT strategy of CIAT.
* Publish results in journals and at conferences.
* Develop internal and external collaborations.
* Develop projects and apply for funding.
* The researcher will be expected to work with data from different
sequencing and genotyping platforms including Sanger, 454, Illumina,
Ion Torrent, Fluidigm and BeadXpress. The position is part of an
interdisciplinary team which includes plant breeders, geneticists,
physiologists, entomologists and pathologists.

Requirements:

* Ph.D in the field of bioinformatics, computational biology or a
similar discipline.
* Experience in computer programming such as Perl, python or Java is
essential and knowledge of statistics software/languages such as R
would be beneficial.
* Experience in developing and running bioinformatics software is essential.
* Experience with plant genomics is desirable.
* Experience with phylogenetics software is also desirable.
* Must be prepared to travel internationally.
* Excellent communication skills in written & spoken English, and the
ability to speak Spanish is desirable.

Personal Competencies:

* Goal-oriented.
* Dynamic, forward thinking and creative with high ethical standards.
* A strategic planner with sound analytical ability and good judgement.
* Demonstrates facilitating skills and influencing skills.
* A team player with excellent interpersonal and communication skills,
with the ability to effectively interact with people at all levels in
a multi-cultural and multidisciplinary environment.
* Values the sharing of information and continuous improvement in a
cooperative atmosphere of constructive evaluation and learning, and is
committed to staff’s development.

Terms of employment

The contract will be for a two-year period, renewable depending on
performance. The position is internationally recruited and will report
to the Agrobiodiversity Research Area Director. CIAT offers a
multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary
and excellent benefits; we believe that the diversity of our staff
contributes to excellence.

Applications

Applicants should apply by e-mail, including a cover letter, a full
C.V., and the names and contact information of three referees
knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and
work experience. Applications should be sent to Catalina Montoya
(C.m.ruiz at cgiar.org) at the Human Resources Office at CIAT.

Closing date for applications: September 30, 2011

We invite you to learn more about CIAT by accessing the website:
www.ciat.cgiar.org