Chief Scientist

Organizational SettingFAO has established the Core leadership composed of three Deputy Directors-General (DDGs), Director of Cabinet, Chief Economist, and Chief Scientist with an Organigramme and a modular management structure that avoids silos and promotes working jointly at all managerial levels in a cross-sectoral and global manner for a more efficient and effective Organization.The Organizational structure is designed to create cooperation, both within FAO and by building up its comparative advantages to work with other organizations outside of FAO.
Heads of Units (Offices, Centres, and Divisions) are accountable, and each Head reports directly to either a Deputy Director-General (DDG), the Director of Cabinet, the Chief Economist, or the Chief Scientist.The core leadership members function as a unified leadership team working jointly in a cross-sectoral and global manner, supporting the Director-General in all areas of the Organization's mandate.
Each DDG and Chief is accountable for overseeing specific units.
In addition, each has defined alternate oversight responsibility for a number of units for which they are not the lead but provide support and replace when needed the primary person of the leadership team responsible.
The Director-General is establishing the specific reporting line of each Head of Unit to a DDG, Chief Economist, or Chief Scientist, taking into consideration the background, skills, and knowledge of the individuals in the leadership team and after internal consultations.
Each member of the leadership team has responsibility for specific transversal areas that require overall corporate leadership.Reporting LinesThe Chief Scientist reports to the Director-General.Summary of Duties and FunctionsAccelerating and scaling up innovation is fundamental for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and leveraging emerging opportunities for reaching a world free from hunger, poverty, and malnutrition.
It is an opportune time for FAO to harness and increase its knowledge and expertise, building on its comparative advantage, promoting a more holistic and coordinated approach to address the complex and interconnected challenges facing agriculture and food systems.In the framework of FAO's mandate, Strategic Framework, Programme of Work, agreed Organizational results, and technical, operational, and administrative corporate procedures and policies, the Chief Scientist is an aggregator with convening capacity to improve delivery of results and strengthen FAO's innovative spirit throughout the Organization and in its interaction with others.The Chief Scientist works under the guidance of, and reports to, the Director-General of FAO.
In particular, the Chief Scientist will:Consolidate and strengthen FAO's innovative ethos, including innovation of mindset, cooperation models, and innovation of application by digitalization;Ensure that FAO applies modern science and technology and adopts innovative approaches in management of resources, projects, and programmes;Promote innovative approaches in order to scale up the work on the ground and in cooperation with public, private, academia, and civil society;Leverage science, innovation, technology, and new approaches across the Organization and in support of countries for better results and strengthening partnerships;Coordinate intelligence gathering and medium- to long-term prioritization processes for identifying new programmes and cooperation models;Lead task forces on nexus approaches to look at sustainability issues in an integrated and innovative manner;Employ systems thinking, identify trade-offs and synergies for innovative policy assistance and advice to Members;Lead the development of an evidence-based and corporate perspective on emerging innovation that includes evaluation of the impact of context-specific innovation;Lead the formulation and establishment of an internal mechanism to foster, promote, and incentivize innovations to strengthen FAO's innovative ethos including innovation of mindset, developing champions and promoters of innovation;Lead and oversee the work of the Office for Innovation and ensure the achievement of the desired results;Update as required and lead delivery of results expected from the FAO Science and Innovation Policy;Develop a policy and capacities to enhance assistance to Members regarding their research and development (RD) strategies and priority actions;Nurture partnerships with science and innovation and RD actors and networks such as the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) network and centres, National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), universities, and public and private research centres;Lead and manage the Office by supervising its staff and making efficient and effective internal organizational arrangements;Oversee and deal with the management of risk in all relevant units, ensuring that any significant control weaknesses are escalated;Advocate FAO's policy position with respect to the areas under his/her mandate and communicate its messages;Act as B oversight supervisor amongst the leadership team for units or offices or centres under designated authority.CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWINGMinimum RequirementsAdvanced university degree (PhD as reference) in a field related to the work of the Organization;At least fifteen years of relevant experience in a field related to the work of FAO, particularly food security, agriculture, rural development, and agricultural innovation;Demonstrated professional competence and management/strategic leadership at a high level;Working knowledge of English (level C) and intermediate knowledge (level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish);Experience with multilateral negotiations and advice to governments;Good resource mobilization and partnership development skills;Ability to lead and work effectively with a diverse team of people from different national and cultural backgrounds in an international setting.
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