Internal Call Only (RFP300575) - Senior Associate - Data Systems Arusha, Tanzania

THE ORGANIZATION

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.

About the position

The Senior Data Systems Associate will be a key role within the Artemis project contributing to the efficient management and utilization of data for the development of AI-powered phenotyping tools. This position involves a range of tasks including data organization quality control processing and annotation requiring meticulous attention to detail and a strong understanding of data management principles. He/She will work closely with the Data Systems Engineer and the broader AI/ML team to ensure the smooth flow of high-quality data ultimately supporting the projects goal of accelerating crop improvement efforts and enhancing food security across Africa Latin America and Asia.

Key duties & responsibilities

Data Management

• Support the development implementation and continuous improvement of the projects data management strategy.
  
• Support the organization integration and governance of datasets from diverse sources including field trials image repositories partner institutions and digital platforms.
  
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of comprehensive data documentation metadata standards and data dictionaries to ensure long-term usability and reproducibility.
  

Data Quality Control:

• Design and implement robust data quality control procedures.
  
• Support data cleaning validation and verification tasks to ensure data accuracy and consistency.
  
• Identify and report data anomalies and inconsistencies.
  

• Lead the design development and optimization of data processing pipelines for machine learning and analytical workflows.
  
• Manage data storage transformation and integration solutions ensuring scalability security and interoperability.
  
• Guide efforts to convert data between different formats as needed.
  

Data Annotation and Labeling Oversight:

• Provide technical guidance for the annotation and labeling of images and structured data for supervised machine learning tasks.
  
• Collaborate with domain experts and model developers to define labeling schemas annotation workflows and quality assurance protocols.
  
• Evaluate and recommend tools platforms and processes to improve annotation efficiency and accuracy at scale
  

Capacity Building and Collaboration

• Provide guidance to junior data staff and contributors involved in data collection management and processing activities.
  
• Develop training resources and lead capacity-building initiatives on data management best practices and tools for internal teams and external partners.
  
• Serve as a key liaison between data research and engineering teams to ensure coordinated and efficient data flows that support modeling analytics and decision-making.
  
• Represent the data function in strategic planning meetings reporting processes and donor communications.
  

Requirements

• Masters degree in Computer Science Data Science or a related field.
  
• 3 years of experience in data management data analysis or a related field.
  
• Familiarity with data quality control and data processing techniques.
  
• Experience with data annotation and labeling tools.
  
• Proficient programming skills in Python or other relevant languages.
  
• Proficiency in data manipulation and analysis using coding.
  
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
  
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
  
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
  
• Experience with agricultural and/or plant sciences.
  
• Knowledge of image processing and analysis techniques.
  
• Familiarity with metadata standards and best practices.
  

Terms of employment

This position is a nationally recruited position based in Arusha Tanzania. The initial contract will be for 1 year subject to a probation period of 3 months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources.

This position is graded at BG07 level with a minimum basic salary of TZS 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 to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference number RFP300575 as the position applied for. Cover letter and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate s last name first name for ease of sorting. The Alliance collects and process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Applications closing date: 20^th June 2025

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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