Product Development Scientist II

About us

At the forefront of farming and food, Memphis Meats is innovating new ways to produce real meat, without the need to breed, feed and slaughter animals. Our process begins with an animal cell, which is cultivated and harvested as meat. Memphis Meats is a mission-driven company focused on bringing to meat lovers an authentic product that is truly humane, sustainably produced, nutritious and delicious! We are now expanding our team of dedicated professionals across disciplines to make better meat for a better world.

About this job

The Product Development Scientist II will lead the culinary and science-focused work  to produce world-class, delicious cell-cultured meat products at scale, safely. This person will lead a data-driven and creative pursuit of quality through food product identification and characterization development. This person should have demonstrable expertise in regulatory-compliant pipeline development of meat, poultry, or seafood products from the benchtop through scaled manufacturing while possessing a keen understanding of the culinary arts. Formal training and expertise in food, meat processing including both ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products, ingredient application, protein chemistry or molecular biology are desired, but not required.  If you have a burning desire to learn how and why food systems work and to create and develop processes to make it better and more efficient, this would be a great opportunity for you.

Duties include

• Lead, design and conduct experiments from the benchtop to pilot scale up to ensure appropriate processes are applied to cell-cultured meat products commercialization  
• Partner with the research and development team to create cell-cultured meat products, formulations and preparations for plant production.
• Assist and partner with the Quality, Food Safety and Process Development teams to ensure product scale up is safe and expedient
• Collaborate with the Food Production team to assist plant trials and production runs.
• Collaborate with ingredient suppliers to research and identify the key functional ingredients for cell-cultured meat products.
• Collaborate with equipment vendors to explore, identity and research the best processing equipment/technology for cell-cultured meat products.
• Establish and maintain quality and food safety standards for consumer-level product production 
• Work collaboratively with product development and business teams to meet multiple, complex project deadlines
• Communicate status, risks, and opportunities on product development projects to senior leadership
• Partner development and characterization of new meat, poultry, or seafood products in compliance with local, state, and Federal regulatory requirements
• Scientific diligence, analysis, and evaluation for product development approaches, including benchwork and sensory evaluation
• Conduct a wide range of analytical tests including shelf life and product stability studies.
• Stay abreast of current literature and analytical advancements.
• Ability to develop and maintain external culinary professionals partnerships

About you

• 5 to 10 years food industry experience in product development from benchtop through commercialization.
• MS or PhD in food science, animal science, protein chemistry, food engineering or other applicable field, or equivalent experience
• Demonstrated ability to lead multiple complex projects, synthesize results, and routinely and effectively communicate key recommendations to leadership.
• Broad working knowledge of food product development including developing and managing product formulation, stability testing, packaging development, quality control testing, scale-up, ingredient supplier networks, nutrition labeling requirements, texture analysis, and sensory testing.
• Expertise in muscle meat, flavor chemistry, protein chemistry, plant-based protein, animal-based protein, and functional carbohydrates.
• Deep desire to learn, explore and experiment new technology for cell-cultured meat processing.
• Ability to continuously challenge assumptions and create innovative solutions.
• Great communication, report writing, presentation and interpersonal skills 
• Can-do attitude, full of integrity, excited to work under our Big Tent
• Must be a good human

Memphis Meats is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.