Research Officer II – Scaling Solar in Agriculture

REF: RO/IWMI/11/25

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) seeks to recruit a Research Officer (II) who contributes to the implementation of the Solar Energy for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) Phase 2 project in Kenya. The incumbent will support research, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, policy analysis, enabling environment technical assistance, and knowledge dissemination, with a focus on enabling responsible scaling of climate-smart solutions, including solar energy systems for agriculture.

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit international research organization, serving a global mandate to improve management of water and land for food, livelihoods, and nature. IWMI headquarters is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka and one of its sub-regional offices is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. IWMI is one of the 15 research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the design and implementation of research on solar energy systems for agriculture including irrigation, cold storage, drying, and agro-processing technologies.
• Contribute to data collection and analytical work including policy and private sector analysis, stakeholder mapping, and enabling environment assessments to guide scaling of solar solutions for agriculture.
• Conduct analysis to identify policy, institutional, knowledge, and financial constraints and opportunities for scaling solar innovations in agriculture.
• Support IWMI’s provision of technical assistance to government institutions, private sector, regulatory bodies, and implementing partners to identify, prioritize, and address regulatory and policy bottlenecks that hinder the scaling of water innovations.
• Engage with government, private sector, farmer groups, and development partners to gather insights and strengthen partnerships for responsible scaling of solar solutions in agriculture.
• Assist in capacity building and training for stakeholders and piloting solar innovation bundles and institutional models through diverse modalities such as living labs, Hackathons and public-private partnerships.
• Contribute to the communication of research work through preparation and dissemination of working papers, policy briefs, technical reports, journal publications, conference papers, posters, brochures, and presentations at policy forums.
• Perform any other related duties as may be required.

Minimum Requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree in political science, innovation systems, agricultural economics, water resource management, environmental studies, development studies, human geography or other related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience post-graduation, ideally in agri-food systems research involving water management and (or) renewable energy.
• Minimum of 2-3 years of experience in applied research, preferably in innovation systems or scaling of climate-smart solutions.
• Demonstrated ability and experience in literature review, data collection, data analysis, and generation of high-quality outputs, i.e., reports and scientific publications.

Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain professional contacts, and to interact with a wide range of actors from government, international organizations, development partners, and other stakeholders.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and statistical/ qualitative analysis software (e.g., STATA, R, NVivo).
• Demonstrated good organizational skills and ability to work with a minimum level of supervision.
• Experience working with CGIAR, government ministries, or international development organizations.
• Experience to facilitate and coordinate multi-stakeholder partnerships in agri-business and irrigation, and gender and youth inclusion issues
• Demonstrated understanding of the agricultural and energy policy landscape in East Africa.
• Ability to in using statistical analytical techniques.

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Job Grade: HG 14

Monthly Base Salary: Birr 54,708

Terms of appointment: This is a National Staff (NS) position, initial appointment is for three years with the possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and the availability of funding. ILRI/IWMI offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and excellent benefits in line with ILRI salary applicable for its National Staff. IWMI is an international and equal opportunity organization and believes that diversity of its staff contributes to excellence. The ILRI campus is set in a secure, attractive campus with dining and sports facilities.

Applications: Applicants should provide a cover letter and curriculum vitae; names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to be included in the curriculum vitae. The position and reference number: REF: RO/IWMI/11/25 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter. All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ on or before 09 October 2025.

IWMI/ILRI does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing or training).

To find more about IWMI, visit our Website at http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/

Suitably qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply