Senior Officer – Administration

(For ICRISAT Internal Staff only)

ICRISAT seeks applications from ICRISAT internal staff for the Senior Officer – Administration position to support Crop Breeding under the Global Research Program – Accelerated Crop Improvement. This position is based at ICRISAT Headquarters, Patancheru, Telangana, India.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi- arid or dryland tropics has over 2 billion people and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT and its partners help empower these disadvantaged populations to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agricultural production systems.

ICRISAT is headquartered at Patancheru near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and eight country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT envisions a prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. Its mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics. ICRISAT conducts research on its mandate crops of chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet in the arid and semi-arid tropics. The Institute focuses its work on the drylands and in protecting the environment. Tropical dryland areas are usually seen as resource-poor and perennially beset by shocks such as drought, thereby trapping dryland communities in poverty and hunger and making them dependent on external aid. Please visit – www.icrisat.org

Position Objective:

The senior officer will support administrative activities for Groundnut, Pearl Millet, and Sorghum along with the Crop Breeding Project Management. The position will report to the PS of the three crop breeding programs (GN, PM, Sor)

Responsibilities:

• Provide administrative and secretarial support to Scientists in Groundnut, Pearl Millet, and Sorghum Breeding units
• Support project documentation processes, including proposal submissions, budget preparation, MoA, annual work plans, and reports
• Oversee timely reporting of project finances to donors on a monthly, half-yearly, and yearly basis.
• Assist in organizing annual work plans and project progress workshops with internal and external stakeholders
• Coordinate and arrange internal and external project meetings, trainings, etc
• Attend to general office maintenance tasks in collaboration with respective departments
• Report crop breeding cluster activities on the MET platform
• Prepare project budgets, manage expenditures according to line items and timelines, and report financial statements
• Arrange and coordinate travel logistics, such as flights, accommodations, and itineraries
• Manage visitors’ logistics for project meetings and training, providing start-to-end support
• Coordinate and facilitate meetings, conferences, and special events, including logistical arrangements and agenda preparation
• Collaborate with team members to improve overall office efficiency
• Manage timely reporting of projects on monthly, half-yearly, and yearly basis
• Report project activities and finances on MEL dashboards
• Ensure timely compilation of inputs from Scientists and submission to relevant departments
• Adhere to donors’ financial reporting templates, manage expenditure line items, and report on financial statements promptly
• Maintain attention to detail and accuracy in data compilation and record-keeping

• Requirement:
• Holds an MBA in Finance
• Possesses a minimum of 10 years of experience in Officer-level or similar roles involving office administration and project management
• Proficient in MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and adept at working with Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) dashboards
• Experienced in collaborating with public and private sector partners, with a preference for those familiar with handling administrative matters in institutions focusing on dryland crops
• Demonstrates the ability to work independently while also being a valuable team player

General:

This is a contractual role for a period of 36 months (3 years)

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 05 April 2024, with their latest Resume, and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged; however, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer.