HEAD OF PRODUCT

The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national, and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Background of the position

The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT have initiated a project, titled Artemis. Artemis is developing AI technology to enable on-farm breeding. Given the pace of climate change new approaches are needed to speed up the breeding cycle and enable a greater synchrony between plant breeding and on-farm conditions, shifting breeding from a majority on-station to majority on-farm process. Artemis is addressing this issue with a new generation of AI-powered and smartphone-deployable tools. The principal technology is computer vision phenotyping, with explorations into multimodal data that integrates speech and text to actively integrate farmers into the plant improvement process. Artemis is currently entering into the third year of development, having been featured recently in Reuters.

The Alliance is recruiting for the position of Head of Product (Research Team Leader) who will lead the team to develop and execute a vision for the product, turn a proof-of-concept into a fully functional phenotyping tool and road mapping further product development priorities. The successful candidate will collaborate with the AI engineering, software development, and UX/UI teams in Artemis and internal and external breeding programs to strategically integrate their work streams and outputs into a cohesive and successful product for breeding programs (breeders and technicians).

Key duties & responsibilities

• Strategic planning and management of the product portfolio.
• Definition and alignment of vision and strategy.
• Coordinate activities from technical teams as pertains to integrating features in the product.
• Create and maintain product roadmap to meet project objectives and goals.
• Feature prioritization based on user feedback, roadmap strategy and project goals.
• Define and be accountable for product and project development goals and success metrics.
• Develop business case and rational for investments in new product features.
• Translate analytics, data, and user feedback into actionable product plans.
• In collaboration with the in-house product design team and a design consultancy firm:

o   Lead multi-disciplinary teams of around 10 people to develop a compelling and elegant UI

o   Develop easy-to-use in-app and online onboarding tools

• In collaboration with a design consultancy firm:

o   Lead the planning of market research and analysis to identify customer needs, competitive landscape, and market trends and refine the product positioning, target audience, and value proposition based on market insights.

o   Develop go-to-market strategies, ensuring successful release plan and product launches.

• Represent the project and organization in international fora, partner development meetings, and donor engagement events.
• Leads the development and implementation of at least three (3) successful proposals.
• Design and implement solutions to key problems to achieve the vision.
• Contribute to project reporting.
• Supervise and mentor supporting staff.
• Other tasks as assigned as relevant to expertise and ongoing or future projects

Requirements

• A PhD or master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or related field.
• At least five years of product development (ideally mobile) experience, including leadership roles.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Demonstrated management and leadership skills.
• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving skills, proven experience in data-driven, customer- centric approaches.
• Strong strategic thinking, proven experience in product strategy.
• Previous experience with user-facing technology development, experience in agricultural related fields highly advantageous, but not required.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Excellent communication skills in English is mandatory. Knowledge of Spanish, Swahili, French and other languages is an added advantage.
• Previous experience working in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, ability to multi-task and lead with overview.
• Experience in international agricultural research and working in Africa is desirable, but not required.
• Experience working on collaborative projects as part of an international team is desirable, but not required.

Terms of employment

This is an internationally recruited position to be based in either Arusha, Tanzania or Nairobi, Kenya. The initial contract will be for two years subject to a probation period of six months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources.

This position is graded at BG09 level, in a scale of BG01 to BG14 (BG14 being the highest level according to the Alliance job classification framework policy). We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits including but not limited to insurance, retirement plan, staff training and development, paid time off and flexible working arrangements.

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT is committed to fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces. We believe that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission.

Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes,

national or regional origins, ages, disability statuses, sexual orientations, marital status, and gender identities. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference number Head of Product (Research Team Leader) as the position applied for. Application and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name and first name for ease of sorting.

Applications closing date: Thursday, 27^th June 2024

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:  

        http://alliancebioversityciat.org