Scientific Officer

Scientific Officer - Digital Agriculture

ICRISAT seeks applications from dynamic Indian nationals as Scientific Officer - Digital Agriculture in Digital Agriculture team under the Global Research Program Resilient Farm & Food Systems. The incumbent will support activities of the Global Research Program on Resilient Farm and Food Systems This position will be based at ICRISAT's Headquarters in Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The Digital Agriculture team is actively developing scalable digital platforms and AI/ML-based tools for agricultural decision support. This position will play a critical role in operationalizing machine learning models, automating deployment pipelines, and ensuring robust infrastructure for data-driven agricultural solutions.

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 -

Responsibilities:

• Developing data sourcing methodologies as per the requirements of projects

• Analyse existing and collected data to understand the patterns and trends

• Use computer vision methodologies to develop solutions for farming such as plant protection, yield forecast, etc.

• Develop predictive models and machine-learning algorithms

• Developing mobile and web applications

• Maintain documentation and provide technical support to research teams.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Master's degree in computer applications, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related fields.

• At least 1-3years of relevant experience in AI/ML models and/or application development, preferably in research or data-intensive environments.

• Proficiency in Python and scripting for automation.

• Familiarity with ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn) and model lifecycle management.

• Understanding of CI/CD tools (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI).

• Familiarity with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) and infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, Ansible).

General:

This is a contractual role for a period of 24 months (2 years), renewable based on the performance of the incumbent and the institute's continuing need for the position.

How to apply:

The position will remain open until a suitable candidate is identified. Shortlisting will start from05 January 2026. All Applicants should apply 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 and is committed to increasing diversity and maintaining a progressive and inclusive workplace. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age, marital status or whether they have a disability.