Senior Scientist

The Alliance Bioversity & CIAT is seeking a highly motivated and skilled Senior Scientist to lead the implementation of the research program on low emissions development and support the implementation of food systems-related projects across the tropics.

• Provide technical guidance on the design, planning, and execution of climate change and low emissions development-related projects.
• Lead in the assessment of GHG emissions and mitigation options from key agriculture value chains.
• Design climate finance mechanisms to enhance low emissions of different sectors and de-risk corresponding investments.
• Lead in the co-development and implementation of deforestation-free livelihood options that suit developing tropical countries.
• Engage with national and global partners in the development of GHG emission tracking and monitoring tools.
• Contribute to the co-development of approaches that support countries in their national SDG, NDC, NBSAP reporting.
• Take lead in the development of tools, methods, options, and strategies that enable countries compliance to the EUDR and other regulatory measures.
• Identify and map emission factors and mitigation hotspots for different sectors and suppliers and design a roadmap for net-zero emissions.
• Lead scientific discussions with key stakeholders and partners to co-create landscape-to-national-scale solutions for different contexts.
• Foster and sustain relationships with donors, external stakeholders, and internal partners on project issues, providing leadership, monitoring progress, and ensuring stakeholder expectations are managed for project deliverables.
• Take lead in the development of data tools and other visualizations for discovering data patterns to address key research questions and hypotheses.
• Lead technical discussions with partners on problem understanding, research objectives, and predictive approaches to be used.
• Develop, coordinate, and disseminate research products and knowledge assets globally in coordination with the lever team.
• Provide technical guidance to project teams under their supervision and advise the research team on outcomes that feed into the wider knowledge base of the Alliance.
• Lead and contribute to project proposal writing and bilateral fundraising.
• Provide strategic support and guidance on defining entry points for research and development as well as in contributing and reporting to relevant national, regional, and global initiatives.
• Mentor junior Alliance staff, PhD students, and other partners to exercise their scientific excellence and develop in their careers.
• Build capacity of research teams in data-gathering, analysis, and assessment of findings, utilizing new tools, approaches, and frameworks.
• Lead and contribute to the writing of peer-reviewed papers, technical notes, and project reports.

• PhD in agroclimatology, climate, ecology, agriculture, forestry, political science, agricultural economics, soil science, or other related areas, with more than 6 years of demonstrated experience in the climate change and modelling area.
• Experience and ability in systems thinking, systems analysis, and interdisciplinary skills.
• Proven capacity in research design, implementation, data collection and analysis, data visualization, and scientific writing, particularly in the use of different modeling and machine learning approaches.
• Proven track record as a research leader and manager in development and climate change, climate adaptation, and mitigation-related projects.
• Experience and record in fund raising and who will be prepared to raise funds for strategic projects and initiatives.
• Proven experience and capacity in forging and maintaining partnerships associated with the research and development arena.
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken, including scientific communication and report writing (additional language proficiency including Spanish is a plus).
• Strong ability to lead, prioritize, and organize workload; take initiative and work under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in a highly dynamic, interdisciplinary, and multicultural team.
• Proven publication record in peer-reviewed journals.