Lead Scientist, Fermentation

Lead Scientist, Fermentation

GFI Europe - Good Food Institute Europe

UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands

€ 52,494 - € 61,379 per year gross

We are looking for a Lead Scientist, Fermentation to analyse the technical landscape for proteins and ingredients derived from microbial fermentation, identify key challenges, and articulate solutions to accelerate the industry.

How You Will Make a Difference:

We need the best scientists in Europe to be engaged in plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-enabled protein research and development. At GFI Europe, the goals of our SciTech work are threefold: 1) grow the technical research community, 2) steer their work towards the most impactful research and 3) increase the research funding this community receives.

To inform these activities, we need to better understand how to develop and scale alternative protein production in Europe — forecasting challenges such as scaling bottlenecks and key environmental or cost drivers, and proposing actions for producers, companies, scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders to address them. From initial scoping, we have identified a critical knowledge gap for the alternative protein sector in Europe: projecting future need for fermentation inputs in Europe and determining how to meet it (likely through leveraging alternatives to 1st generation sugars). We therefore anticipate that at least 50% of this role will be dedicated to leading a project to address this question.

The remainder of your time would be focused on providing ad hoc subject matter expertise to support specific initiatives during the contract period across a range of GFI’s priorities, including providing a global support function to colleagues outside of GFI Europe on time-limited workstreams. During this period, you will also collaborate with key academic, nonprofit, and industry stakeholders to ensure that efforts and funding are allocated toward the highest-impact research areas to accelerate the adoption of fermentation-enabled proteins and improve the sustainability of the food system.

Reporting to the Head of Science and Technology, you will serve as GFI Europe’s fermentation science expert for the duration of this role.

To achieve this, you will:

• Define the focus and timeline and then lead a project to analyse 1) European fermentation input needs and 2) pathways to meet this need. This will probably involve a combination of internal and externally-contracted analyses to fully address both of these questions. The output will likely include either a white paper, conference presentations, a peer-reviewed article, or some combination thereof;
• Act as a subject matter expert for external scientists, research centres, and research projects on priority research topics and whitespace opportunities in fermentation science;
• Support our research funding team in Europe in engaging with high-priority funders and government agencies to direct capital toward the highest-impact areas of alternative protein R&D;
• Support GFI-led funding programmes such as GFI’s global Research Grant Program or those led by GFI Europe’s research funding team, including serving as a grant proposal reviewer where needed;
• Provide subject matter expertise to support critical work led by GFI Europe’s policy, industry, and communications teams. This will include monitoring and documenting key research findings, biotechnology advancements, and industry milestones related to fermentation-enabled proteins;
• With the support of our Communications team, serve as a trusted public-facing fermentation expert by communicating about alternative proteins through (science and other) media, digital channels, and conference/symposia presentations;
• Collaborate directly with equivalent roles in GFI’s global fermentation working group. This could include:
  • Aligning on global technical priorities;
  • Sharing knowledge across regions;
  • Supporting one another’s workstreams or working on shared projects;
  • Leading or supporting the development of global resources, such as technical explanatory materials for the fermentation sector.
• Performing other tasks as required as a member of our small, nimble team.

You must have:

• A passion for GFI’s philosophy and mission;
• A Ph.D. in a relevant scientific field (e.g. biochemical engineering or synthetic biology);
• A deep understanding of the principles, methods, equipment, and techniques used in fermentation-made protein research and manufacturing for alternative proteins;
• A strategic mind; you will be responsible for selecting the highest-impact opportunities for catalysing the fermentation sector across Europe;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to tailor messages to scientists, university administrators, policymakers, funding bodies, and other relevant audiences;
• Excellent networking, interpersonal, influencing, and relationship-building abilities, and the credibility to represent GFI in front of important stakeholders, including academics, policymakers, and research funding bodies;
• Strong team spirit and open and collaborative instincts (you will be working closely with colleagues in our US SciTech team and around the world);
• A can-do approach: a self-starter with the drive and initiative to take responsibility for delivering impact and an ability to see projects through to completion;
• Comfort working remotely in a rapidly-growing and evolving organisation: the ability to work well independently and under pressure, set priorities, coordinate multiple projects simultaneously, and meet deadlines;
• Good level of IT literacy and a willingness to learn new software packages;
• Our team’s common language is English, so you’ll need to be confident working in English.

The ideal candidate may also have some of the following, although these are absolutely not requirements:

• Field or direct industry experience in alternative proteins;
• Field or direct industry experience in adjacent industrial biomanufacturing sectors such as biofuels, biopharma, or the wider life sciences industry, as these have high potential for applicability in fermentation-enabled protein manufacturing;
• The ability to work in European languages other than English, especially: German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, or Swedish.