Process Engineer/Senior Process Engineer: Downstream Processing

At New Culture, we are making cow cheese without the cow. Dairy cheese is unsustainable and plant-based cheeses don’t work. Ours are sustainable, healthy, ethical, and indistinguishable from current dairy options in taste, texture, and function. Using fermentation to produce dairy proteins, food science to combine those proteins with natural ingredients, and traditional cheesemaking methods to make any cheese of choice, we are bringing about a new culture for the cheese industry.

We are a Bay Area-based, venture-backed startup in an exciting growth and rapid expansion phase. We are looking for a Process Engineer/Sr. Process Engineer to join us in leading the global transformation to an animal-free dairy future. As an early member of the team, you will have significant influence and responsibility in determining the success and trajectory of New Culture. The ideal candidate is looking for a new challenge in a fast-moving, collaborative environment, has previous laboratory, scale-up and tech transfer experience in the recovery and purification of food proteins, is comfortable working in pilot and production environments, and can accommodate up to 25% travel.  

What will you be doing:

• Leading the safe, efficient and robust deployment of New Culture’s downstream processes to pilot and manufacturing facilities
• Providing on-site and remote support for CDMO operations including generation of tech transfer packages, review of SOPs, batch records and campaign reports, troubleshooting, reconciliation of data required to validate scale-up success, and identification of continuous improvement opportunities.
• Working closely with development and operations teams to select, specify and support commissioning of any new DSP equipment and systems needed to meet New Culture’s product quality and capacity requirements. 
• Providing project management support to ensure alignment between New Culture’s Process Development, Scale-up, Product & Commercial teams, CDMO partners, and logistics providers.
• Performing scale-up /scale-down experiments at laboratory scale as needed to support efficient, on-spec scale-up 
• Providing limited on-site microbial fermentation support at pilot and production facilities
• Developing, reviewing and maintaining process and cost models for continuous improvement

What we expect from you:

• BS Degree in Chemical/Biochemical Engineering or closely related discipline 
• 5-10 years of relevant industry experience in downstream processing for food or bio-industrials. Experience with at least 3 of the following downstream operations in a pilot plant or production environment is required: cell disruption, centrifugation, distillation, filtration, reactive separations, crystallization, chromatography, and drying
• Significant previous experience leading tech transfer activities at CMDO sites
• Strong safety awareness, pro-active compliance with New Culture and CDMO EHS policies 
• Ability to work closely and co-operatively with an interdisciplinary team including vendors, development staff, and operations teams.
• Strong organizational and cross-functional communication skills
• Ability to travel up to 25%, including some international travel
• Ability to lift up to 25lb, work standing up for up to 4hrs, and walk up and down stairs.
• A desire to develop cutting-edge fermentation technology to create delicious, impactful food products 
• Authorization to work in the US

Even better if you had:

• Experience with microbial fermentation processes
• Experience working with dairy or other food proteins 
• Previous startup experience

How to know you are a great fit:

We look for candidates who are team players, learners, doers, and hungry to make a difference in the world. Creativity and resourcefulness, honesty, and empathy go a long way. Our five core values guide us on our path to achieving our mission. 

Determination with Kindness | Have the resolve, the drive, and the will to succeed, but do it with empathy, encouragement, and compassion. In the face of adversity we will only excel as a team by keeping kindness at the forefront of everything we do.

Creativity with Transparency | Creativity, persistence, questioning, and crazy ideas to solve hard problems are essential to our work. We do all of this out in the open while being honest and forthright about the new things we’re trying, getting feedback and input from our teammates along the way. 

Teamwork with Rigor | Hold yourself and those around you to high standards and understand how your responsibilities are interconnected with others. As much as you rely on your teammates, they’re relying on you, and only with consistent communication and rigorous teamwork will we achieve our goals together.

Speed with Focus | We move quickly, exploring new opportunities and incorporating new results to make progress rapidly. Remaining focused throughout our experimentations means making thoughtful decisions, listening to a range of perspectives, and moving forward as a unified team once we’ve committed to the path ahead.

Love the Product (not just the Science) | The science is cool but the product is even cooler. Our breakthroughs are always in the pursuit of better products. It’s by selling delicious dairy that we will bring about a successful future for New Culture and a positive impact for our customers and the planet.

New Culture is committed to promoting and creating a diverse, inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Diversity is the foundation of what we do at New Culture, enabling us to build a company that celebrates what makes each of us unique.