Director of Bioprocess Development

• Finless Foods

• Emeryville, California, USA

• Employment type: salaried full-time

About Finless

At Finless Foods, our mission is simple – we want to create a future for seafood where the ocean thrives. Every day, we work toward this by creating delicious, alternative seafood products that help you satisfy your cravings without bait or a hook. We are using ground-breaking (or rather ocean-breaking) plant and cell culture technology to revolutionize how the world sources delicious and sustainable food. Good for us. Suitable for the ocean.

These are our values: 

• Be driven to create a future for seafood where the ocean thrives

• Produce safe, healthy, and great-tasting food

• Urgently commit to a flourishing ocean and waterways

• Respect coastal communities and their relationship with the ocean

• Foster a diverse culture of people and knowledge

• Believe people want to help and that we can offer them a helping hand.

Our Culture

At Finless Foods, we are passionate about supporting our employees’ growth, both personally and professionally. We want you to be proud of having ‘Finless Foods’ on your resume, and we want you to be a crucial part of making Finless’ unique culture what it is.

We value: 

• Emotional intelligence - The ability to be both self and socially aware and effectively manage yourself and your social relationships, including your Finless teammates.

• Building trust through transparency - The ability to communicate by leading with transparency and honesty, even when it's difficult

• Proactively supporting your teammates - The ability to identify and proactively offer support to your teammates (because we succeed together)

• Looking for opportunities in failure - The ability to frame losses as learnings and growth opportunities because this is the building block of success 

At Finless, we integrate these values daily, and they also are a core part of our annual individual and team evaluations. We’re looking for individuals who will take these to heart as much as we do. 

Position Description

As Director of Bioprocess Development, you will bring technology and engineering expertise to develop and implement robust and scalable bioprocesses for pilot production and manufacturing of animal cell culture.  Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, you will assume leadership and responsibility in hiring and managing members of the Bioprocess Development group and providing support for technology transfer to GMP manufacturing facilities. As an integral member of the entire R&D team, you will collaborate with the leaders of the Cell Biology, Media Optimization, Tissue Engineering, and Food Science groups. As a leader of the Bioprocess Development group, it is expected that you will closely work with CTO to drive innovation for optimized processes and new technologies. You will represent the Bioprocess Development group through oral and written communication and external entities. The successful candidate will utilize their expertise and experience scaling up animal cell culture to achieve Finless Food’s mission. Salary and title will be commensurate with experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement robust and scalable bioprocesses for pilot production of animal cell culture and technology transfer for GMP manufacturing

• Lead a team of engineers and scientists to perform studies for continual optimization, characterization, and improvement of bioprocess

• Collaborate with the leaders of the entire R&D team to develop a strategic approach for process development that aligns with Finless Foods’ product development goals

• Advise the development of seed-train process and the cross-validation of scale-down models for the predictive performance of cell culture at a large scale

• Support the design of innovative bioreactor and bioprocess to achieve Finless Foods’ cell culture production goals

• Evaluate and implement new engineering technologies/systems for continual improvement 

• Hire and mentor junior members, align group members’ SMART goals to the department and corporate goals, and conduct regular one-on-one meetings and performance review

• Support safety risk assessment and train personnel to adhere to the safety and quality control programs related to bioprocesses for regulatory submissions and inspections

• Work with outside vendors and resources where appropriate and assist in external projects required to accomplish project goals.

• Communicate effectively and present work-related results to supervisor, project teams, and all functional groups

Experience, Skills, and Attributes

• BS/MS or Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering or Biological/Biochemical sciences with 10 years of relevant experience in Bioprocess Development and leading teams in the biotechnology or biopharma industry

• Experience in bioprocess development from seed-train up to 1,000L pilot production of animal cell culture

• Experience in using a Design-of-Experiment (DOE) approach for bioprocess optimization of animal cell culture and product quality attributes in bioreactor systems.

• Experience in developing and transferring well-characterized cell culture processes into manufacturing, including process development, technology transfer, and supporting regulatory submission

• Experience in or knowledge of perfusion bioreactor and process intensification is desirable.

• Understanding of GMP and relevant ISOs is desirable

• Experience in cross-functional collaboration, leading teams, mentoring junior members, prioritizing projects, setting goals, and conducting a performance review

• Resourceful, well organized, highly dependable, efficient, and detail-oriented

• Familiarity with G Suite/MS Office and an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) system is desirable

• Excellent organization and communication skills, written and oral in English

• Great team player with strong interpersonal and collaboration skills

Position Details

• Competitive salary with the industry – Actual salaries will vary and may be above or below the range based on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance.

• Unlimited PTO

• Flexible Schedule

• 401k

• Medical, dental & vision

• Access to well-being tools and development opportunities

• Legal authorization to work in the U.S. is required. 

• In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

• Be part of the change for a better world.

Work Environment/Physical Demands

This position involves working primarily in a laboratory setting. As such, this position requires the ability to stand or sit at the bench to lift laboratory equipment to 40 lbs use standard laboratory equipment, and computers and office equipment. The position requires communication with other individuals through a variety of methods.

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Finless Foods Inc is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status, membership in any other legally protected category.

Reasonable Accommodation Notice Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you need a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or perform your job. Examples of reasonable accommodation include changing the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you spent contacting us, and we thank you for your interest in Finless.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Due to many applications, only applicants moving on to the next round will be contacted.