Research Assistant - Breeding Data Management

About the role

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is seeking a Research Assistant to support breeding data management at its headquarters in Ibadan. The role focuses on implementing the Enterprise Breeding System, curating breeding datasets, and providing analytical support to breeding teams.

Key responsibilities

• Assist the Breeding Data Manager with adoption, implementation and routine use of the Enterprise Breeding System (EBS).
• Prepare, test and validate digital field books and data‑collection templates for electronic capture.
• Curate breeding data (locations, traits, germplasm records, pedigrees, experimental metadata) and load it into EBS.
• Use R or Python scripts for data cleaning, validation, duplicate detection, germplasm matching and routine reporting.
• Execute SQL queries, extract data into approved templates, dashboards and reports.
• Maintain and update Power BI dashboards monitoring breeding activities, data quality and performance indicators.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree or HND in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Agricultural Science, Plant Breeding, Bioinformatics, IT or related field.
• Minimum two years of relevant experience in data management, database support or agricultural research.
• Demonstrated ability to document scripts, data‑processing procedures and quality‑control checks.

Required skills

• Advanced Microsoft Excel (formulas, pivot tables, data validation, lookups).
• Proficiency in R or Python for data cleaning, transformation and reproducible reporting.
• Experience building and maintaining Power BI dashboards.
• Working knowledge of SQL and relational database querying.
• Familiarity with electronic data‑collection tools, digital field books, trait dictionaries and crop ontologies.