Laboratory Assistant

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: LABORATORY ASSISTANT TO AU-PANVAC VACCINE PROCESS DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY

The African Union, established as a unique African continental body, is charged with spearheading Africa's rapid integration and sustainable development by promoting Unity, Solidarity, Cohesion and Cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African States as well as developing a New Partnership worldwide. Its Headquarters is located at Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia.

GALVmed has been involved in the development of control tools for a number of diseases affecting poor livestock keepers, including Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) and Newcastle Disease (ND) as part of its mission of 'saving lives through improved livestock health'. In order to improve the vaccines against these diseases, GALVmed and its partners, AU-PANVAC and NVI - Ethiopia, established a Process Development Laboratory (PD Laboratory), in AU-PANVAC (Debre-Zeit, Ethiopia), which is necessary for reviewing, optimising and improving the production processes for these vaccines, and developing appropriate vaccine technologies, under the management of AU-PANVAC. The final objective of the PD laboratory is to develop and facilitate the implementation of new methodologies for the vaccine production line with minimum disruption on production and quality. AU-PANVAC will be responsible for the overall management of the facility. In implementing this project, AU-PANVAC seeks the services of a Laboratory Assistant.

1. Post

Job Title: Laboratory Assistant

Grade: GSA4

Department: AU/PANVAC

Supervisor: AU-PANVAC Director

Duty Station: Debre Zeit, Ethiopia .

2. Major duties and responsibilities:

• Develop work and activity plans for the laboratory, including scope of work, equipment maintenance plans, SOP, etc, in line with AU-PANVAC Mission
• Coordinate the development of new and existing technologies for the large scale manufacture of new and existing products
• Coordinate technology transfer activities to vaccine manufacturing laboratories on the continent
• Defining the resource needs for the laboratory, including the budget, in line with AU-PANVAC and GALVmed
• Any other joint GALVMed/NVI/AU-PANVAC assignment

3. QUALIFICATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• The candidate should have a Diploma Veterinary. A higher qualification will be added advantage.
• Extensive hands-on laboratory experience.
• Experience in vaccine development and vaccine production will be desirable.
• Innovative, capable of working independently
• Demonstrated high level of written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work as a part of a team.
• Demonstrated ability to work in cross-cultural settings.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and deliver outputs in a timely fashion.

4. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• The incumbent should have a minimum of Five (5) years in vaccine development and vaccine production

5. LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT:

• Proficiency in one of the African Union working languages. Knowledge of one or several other working languages would be an added advantage.

6. TENURE OF APPOINTMENT:

• The appointment will be made on a fixed-term contract for a period of One (1) year, of which the first three (3) months will be considered as a probationary period. Thereafter, the contract could be renewable subject to satisfactory performance and fund availability.

7. GENDER MAINSTREAMING:

• The AU Commission is an equal opportunity employer and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

8. REMUNERATION: The salary attached to the position is an annual lump-sum of US$ 44,674.85 inclusive of all allowances for internationally recruited staff, and US$ 17,605.35 inclusive of all allowances for locally recruited staff.

Applications must be made through the AUC E-recruitment Website http://www.aucareers.org not later than 1 July 2014.

Directorate of Administration and Human Resource Management African Union Commission Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)