By growing meat directly from animal cells we're making future-friendly, real meat that makes you and the world smile. We stand for all of the good, and none of the bad. UPSIDE Foods is making our favorite food a force for good.
About us:
Based in Berkeley, CA, UPSIDE Foods grows meat, poultry, and seafood directly from real animal cells. These products are not vegan or vegetarian—they are delicious meat, made without the need to raise and slaughter billions of animals. In doing so, the company aims to address some of the most pressing environmental, animal welfare, and public health challenges, while still giving people the meat they love.
Founded as the world’s first cultivated meat company in 2015, UPSIDE Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) has achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including being the first company to produce multiple species of meat (beef, chicken, and duck) and to sell a cultivated meat product in the United States. The company believes that people shouldn’t have to choose between the foods they love and a thriving planet, and is working to build a better food system with access to delicious, humane, and sustainable meat, poultry, and seafood.
UPSIDE Foods has won various industry awards, including New York Times’ Good Tech Awards, FastCo’s Next Big Thing in Tech and World Changing Ideas Awards, and the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation by the National Association for Business Resources. UPSIDE Foods has raised a total of $608 million, including from the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG), Baillie Gifford, Bill Gates, Cargill, John Doerr, John Mackey, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest, Richard Branson, Softbank, Temasek, Threshold, Tyson Foods, and others.
About this job:
We are seeking an innovative and highly motivated Senior Scientist to join our Bioprocess Development team. The successful candidate will play a critical role in developing, optimizing, and scaling upstream and/or downstream processes for the production of novel, cell-cultured meat. We are seeking a candidate with both scientific and operational expertise who can provide technical leadership in developing processes. The successful candidate will work closely with manufacturing sciences to facilitate technical transfers to pilot and commercial manufacturing scales. This is an exciting opportunity for a scientist with a strong foundation in bioprocess engineering, a passion for translating research into scalable processes, and a desire to make a significant impact in the rapidly evolving field of bioprocess engineering in the cellular agriculture domain.
Responsibilities include:
- Design, review, execute, and analyze process development experiments at the benchtop scale, leading to the transfer of processes to pilot and commercial scales.
- Employ and optimize small-scale models for troubleshooting and process optimization.
- Participate in the installation and evaluation of new bioreactor technologies.
- Possess a strong background in mechanistic media design, including nutritional biochemistry and metabolic pathway expertise.
- Develop a scientific knowledge base by learning new methods from peers, seminars, and scientific literature.
- Communicate results and technical roadmaps clearly to cross-functional teams and senior leadership.
- Manage individual and team timelines, expectations, and project progress.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to support team growth.
About you:
- PhD in science or engineering and a minimum of 5+ years of related professional experience (including post-doctoral).
- College or graduate degree in a scientific or technical discipline and a minimum of 12+ years of related professional experience.
- Advanced knowledge of scientific principles and concepts.
- Experienced with a range of bioreactor platforms and control systems.
- Strong experience with statistically driven design of experiments.
- Excellent critical thinker with a detail-oriented and well-organized mindset.
- Comfortable working in and leading in a team-based environment.
- Must be willing and able to work evenings and weekends, when needed.
- A proactive mindset who is excited about challenges and finds creative solutions or clear answers to those challenges.
Who you’ll work with:
- Process Development sits at the intersection of several functions; you’ll interface and coordinate with our cell and media, and food R&D teams, as well as our manufacturing and scale-up teams.
- You’ll also collaborate with our data, automation, analytical, and IT teams to develop new systems and solutions.
Compensation Range: $140,000 - $170,000*
*Pay may vary depending on factors including job-related knowledge and skills.
UPSIDE Benefits!
- Stock options for all full-time incoming team members!
- 90-100% employer-paid healthcare premiums for team members (medical [including HSA and FSA], dental, and vision)
- Pet insurance for your furry family members!
- Unlimited PTO
- Employee Engagement Council
- Company-sponsored learning & development opportunities
UPSIDE Foods 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. Our company-wide mission is to create a product for everyone, so we are deeply committed to having teams and leaders that reflect this mission.