The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the world’s premier research organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through rice science; improving the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers; and protecting the rice-growing environment for future generations. IRRI is an independent, nonprofit, research and educational institute, founded in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations with support from the Philippine government. The institute, headquartered in Los Baños, Philippines, has offices in 17 rice-growing countries in Asia and Africa, and over 1,000 staff.
Working with in-country partners, IRRI develops advanced rice varieties that yield more grain and better withstand pests and disease as well as flooding, drought, and other harmful effects of climate change.
Job Purpose
The Rice Breeding Innovations Platform brings together the various research support and operational services across IRRI including Breeding Analytics, Data Management, and Software Development (BDS). The BDS:
works closely with clusters and platforms
develops, tests and releases software applications that translates science into ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
supports the standardization, capture, storage and curation of data in centralized and accessible IRRI databases.
recommends and trains data capture technologies
A software engineer designs, develops, maintains, tests, tries out and evaluates software applications. In development work their responsibility is to be involved in the creation of product requirements
carry out software development tasks within the agreed time frame and according to the set best practices and agreed on principles create and update the required user and technical documentation
Software engineers provide also technical support to storage and retrieval of data, deployment of the solutions and conduct user training when needed.
This position will be based at the IRRI Headquarters, Los Baños, Philippines and may only be filled by permanent citizens of the Philippines.
Roles and Responsibilities
Design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software
Be involved in the discussion and creation of software product requirements
Carry out software development tasks according to set best practices and agreed principles
Maintain and troubleshoot software applications as per customer requirements
Improve the designed software and databases
Evaluate software for general use and improvement
Provide technical support to end-users (e.g. software support for users)
Facilitate customer requests, and provide solutions and instructions
Coordinate closely with end-users and the design team on the development of software and data sources
Guide and train end-users on how to use the software solutions
Implement software development versions according to set requirements and schedules
Test new and improved features and other solutions and provide quality feedback to fellow developers
Produce documentation and materials such as codes, tables, reports, and other software artifacts
Manage data storage and support retrieval of information from data sources
Set up and install software and check dependencies on local and remote servers
Create backups of software, database, and other software materials
Create and update technical documentation and user manuals of the deployed solutions
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with minimum 4 years of work experience
Master’s degree in Computer Science with minimum 1 year of work experience
Skills Required
Excellent knowledge of and experience in programming computer software, and developing applications and databases
Knowledge of and experience in application/web service/scripting languages (HTML5, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, Node.JS)
Experience in code version control systems (Git)
Some experience in relational databases (PostgreSQL)
Some knowledge of different operating systems (Linux/Mac/Windows)
