Manager, Product Development
Minus
About Us
Compound Foods is a food technology early-stage startup leveraging fermentation to recreate coffee without coffee beans. Through our proprietary fermentation technology, we transform low-value agricultural inputs (roots, seeds, and other upcycled ingredients) into delicious, high-value sustainable food products. We are on a mission to change the future of food, starting with coffee. COME JOIN US. Change is caffeinated here!
Role
We’re seeking a Product Development Manager to join our team and lead our Food Science function. The role will involve hands-on lab work and managing our Food scientists with an opportunity to grow into a Director-level executive leadership role. You’ll be responsible for developing and directing current and new formulations work, evaluating product shelf life, project management and supporting process development and scale-up activities. Our ideal candidate is someone who is passionate about creating food products and seeing through their launch in market, has a track record of creatively solving problems, has a go-getter attitude, can thrive on change, and is excited to contribute to our mission of sustaining the future of coffee.
This is a full-time position. You’ll report to the Head of Product in this position. Come join Us!
What will you do
- Lead, manage and mentor food scientists on all technical aspects of development and commercialization including the investigation, planning, pipeline execution, product and process improvements, troubleshooting projects and cost savings
- Create, innovate, test and support scale-up of food formulations and recipes with a focus on using sustainable and cost-effective inputs to create delicious coffee alternative products
- Own product development process end-to-end and deliver results of the highest standard. This includes prioritizing and allocating work, building KPIs and tracking timelines, and identifying resource gaps and constraints..
- Work closely with Engineering and Operations to ensure successful scale up of product while ensuring Quality Assurance
- Establish research protocols and expand team’s capabilities across a range of product categories
- Manage internal sensory test workstreams testing and relevant KPIs. Design, coordinate and conduct sensory studies and relevant analytical tests.
- Conduct systematic shelf-life studies and troubleshoot issues to improve product stability
- Design and execute experiments using sound scientific methods and principles, and analyze and interpret data to make sound technical recommendations on product and process issues
- Keep systematic and thorough records to support internal team, external clients and intellectual property strategy
- Communicate clearly and effectively with all stakeholders
- Maintain high level of awareness of technical trends and developments in the food tech sector
- Follow GLP and lab safety policies
Your Qualifications
- B.S./M.S./PhD in Food Science or related field
- Minimum 5-7+ years of experience in food and/or beverage product development. Proficiency in formulating food recipes and scaling to manufacturing is a must.
- Demonstrated experience in experimental design, rigorous data analysis, and statistical significance testing.
- Strong fundamentals of food and flavor chemistry, food analysis, and microbiology are required. Flavor development experience is a plus.
- Solid understanding of innovation in the food technology field
- Self-motivated individual capable of working independently and in a team setting and working in lag, pilot and manufacturing plant
- Seamlessly work cross-functionally to identify and execute product improvement and consistency through reformulations and process improvements
- Candidate must possess a high level of technical aptitude, excellent technical writing and verbal communication skills, organization, and collaborative skills, and demonstrated ability to innovate, troubleshoot, and thrive in a dynamic cross-functional team environment
- Strong business acumen demonstrating understanding of the financial aspects of product development is a must. Support marketing with technical inputs as needed.
- Ability to adapt and deliver high quality results in a fast pace work environment.
- Maintain a high degree of accuracy and meticulous attention to detail
- Maintain accurate documentation of experiments and batch records; create SOPs and report and share results with the team.
- A coffee lover (a plus)
What we Offer
- Exciting opportunity to be an integral part of our founding team developing the next generation of revolutionary coffee alternative products
- Competitive base salary commensurate on experience, equity options, and benefits package!
- Flexible work week schedule within reason
- A fun team that has each other’s back and a welcoming culture that encourages creativity and supports employee wellness
- Opportunities for growth and learning at work
- Coffee (hot and cold – including 3rd wave coffees!), snacks, and happy hours with the team!
Join Us and Be You!
Minus Coffee is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.