Senior Project Advisor for Bioinformatics (SSA, NO-C)

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO's Emergency Preparedness and Response Programme (The Programme), is to support countries to coordinate action, prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies. The Pandemic Fund Ethio Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) project in Ethiopia is a significant initiative aimed at reinforcing the country's capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health emergencies, including pandemics in a One Health approach. The WHO manages the EPPR project in collaboration with other partners as an implementing entity. 

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION 

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, at the country level, recognizing that the Animal Health Institute (AHI), under the Ministry of Agriculture, is one of the key national implementing entities of the Pandemic Fund EPPR Project, the Senior Project Advisor for Bioinformatics will provide high-level technical and strategic support to animal health–focused surveillance, laboratory, and genomics activities, and will contribute to evidence-based decision-making within the One Health framework and strengthening the institute’s capacity to analyze pathogen genomic data, support AMR surveillance, enhance data interoperability, and facilitate timely sharing of animal health information with national and international stakeholders.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Based at the AHI, reporting to the EPPR project manager under the overall guidance of the WHE Team Lead, and working closely with the project management team, the incumbent will provide technical support to the Animal Health Institute (AHI) in the implementation and oversight of activities under the EPPR Pandemic Fund project aimed at enhancing animal health–focused surveillance and laboratory capacities.

GRADE

 NO-C

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

During the assignment, the assigned duties below may be modified based on the technical needs of the program.

1.      Perform quality control, assembly, mapping, variant calling, and annotation of NGS data generated from platforms such as Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, and other relevant technologies.

2.      Conduct phylogenetic analysis, genomic epidemiology, and comparative genomics of animal and zoonotic pathogens to support surveillance and outbreak investigations.

3.      Analyze PCR-derived sequence data, whole-genome sequencing data, and metagenomics datasets in support of routine diagnostics and research activities.

4.      Design, optimize, and document bioinformatics pipelines tailored to different pathogens and project objectives.

5.      Develop, deploy, and maintain bioinformatics tools and workflows on local servers and cloud-based platforms, as appropriate.

6.      Manage, organize, curate, and archive genomic datasets in line with AHI data management, quality assurance, and biosafety policies.

7.      Interpret bioinformatics outputs and translate analytical results into scientifically robust conclusions relevant to surveillance, diagnostics, and research.

8.      Support submission of sequence data and associated metadata to international databases such as GenBank, GISAID, and other relevant repositories, in compliance with national and international guidelines.

9.      Prepare clear and comprehensive technical reports, summaries, and visualizations, including phylogenetic trees, genomic maps, and dashboards, for internal and external stakeholders.

10.  Contribute to the preparation of scientific manuscripts, surveillance bulletins, technical reports, and policy briefs as required.

11.  Ensure proper documentation of analytical workflows, assumptions, and outputs to support reproducibility and quality assurance.

12.  Provide hands-on training, mentorship, and technical backstopping to AHI staff on bioinformatics tools, pipelines, and best practices.

13.  Develop, adapt, and update standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for bioinformatics and genomic data analysis.

14.  Provide troubleshooting and technical support related to bioinformatics pipelines, computational infrastructure, and workflow optimization.

15.  Work collaboratively with national, regional, and international partners involved in genomics, molecular epidemiology, and surveillance activities.

16. Participate in scientific meetings, technical working groups, and project review discussions as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential:

First University Degree (BSc) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Genomics, or a closely related field

Desirable:

An advanced university degree MSc or PhD in Bioinformatics.

Experience

Essential:

·         A minimum of five (5) years’ experience in bioinformatics analysis.

Desirable:

·      More than five (5) years of experience in in pathogen genomics, molecular epidemiology, or infectious disease research

FUNCTIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

·         Ability to build partnerships with local and international institutes to foster knowledge sharing and technical exchange. 

·         Strong knowledge of genomics technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS)  

·