Background to the role

Mobilise research funding to build a sustainable food system

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is a non-profit think tank at the forefront of the movement to transform meat production in order to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, from climate change and global hunger, to antibiotic resistance and animal suffering.

We work with scientists, businesses and policymakers to make plant-based and cultivated meat (grown directly from cells) delicious, affordable and accessible. Please check out the rest of our website, our 2024 Year in Review and our 2024 Europe Highlights blog post to find out more about who we are and what our charity does.

We are at an exciting stage in our growth and are looking for a Research Funding Partnerships Coordinator to help unlock research funding in Europe. 

How you will make a difference

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

Reporting to the Research and Grants Manager, you will contribute to the third stream of our work, supporting our efforts to increase available research funding by building and executing partnerships with research funders in Europe. 

As a nascent sector, there is an urgent need for more open access, foundational research to overcome the largest technical hurdles in alternative proteins. There are billions of euros spent on research and innovation by governments and foundations in Europe, and you will engage with research funding bodies as well as scientists, universities, and companies to build partnerships and unlock funding opportunities for alternative protein researchers. 

As a member of our growing European team, you will help radically transform the food system by:

• Delivering our research funding function in high-priority countries in Europe to secure novel funding dedicated specifically to alternative protein research. This will include, among other things: 
  • Building and maintaining relationships with research funders across Europe, providing tailored support through:
    • connecting them with relevant and mission-aligned researchers to act as expert evaluators.
    • acting as a knowledge partner and providing guidance to ensure that funding opportunities are high impact.
    • building local and international connections between different research funding bodies.
    • curating and communicating regional information on the present state of sustainable proteins research.
  • Actively partnering with external funders to commission and fund research directly, including designing and delivering research funding programmes.
  • Implementing and administering GFI-led research funding initiatives as required using best practices in peer review processes.
• Increasing access to existing research funding sources across Europe, and helping researchers address the highest priority technical questions. This will include, among other things:
  • Mapping existing funding sources relevant to alternative proteins and sharing this both publicly and in a targeted manner with potential applicants. 
  • Providing advice and guidance to European researchers, looking to secure funding for their alternative protein focused research.
  • Participating in funded research projects to ensure research is as impactful as possible for improving the taste, price and availability of alternative proteins.
• Acting as a link between equivalent roles in GFI’s global SciTech team and stakeholders in Europe – for example, supporting the global coordination between GFI SciTech team members working on unlocking research funding.
• In conjunction with our Communications team, communicating about sustainable proteins through science media and at scientific conferences.
• Performing other tasks as required as a member of our small, nimble team, including other Science and Technology work streams such as growing the alternative proteins’ academic community.

Who we’re looking for

We primarily hire for skills and potential rather than experience; you do not need to have worked in an Operations or administrative role before. The core skills and attributes needed to excel in the role are:

• A passion for GFI’s philosophy and mission.
• A BSc (or equivalent) in a science or engineering field.
• An existing (or the ability to develop) a functional understanding of the principles, methods, equipment, and techniques used in plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-made protein research and manufacturing. 
• Demonstrated professional experience relevant to scientific research funding, which could include one or more of the following:
  • Setting, advising on, or otherwise influencing the strategic priorities of research funding organisations.
  • Building partnerships between research funding bodies or delivering shared funding programmes.
  • Building partnerships between other scientific bodies, such as scientific societies or networks. 
  • Delivering research funding and/or evaluating research grant applications.
  • Enabling research, for example, by identifying grant opportunities, preparing grant applications for scientific research and/or grant administration for research programmes.
  • Building multi-partner research consortia for international funding programmes (e.g. Horizon Europe).
• A strategic mind; with the Senior Research and Grants Manager and the rest of the Science and Technology team, you will be responsible for selecting the highest-impact opportunities for increasing the funding accessed by the scientific community across Europe.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to tailor messages to funding bodies, scientists, university administrators, policymakers, and other relevant audiences. 
• Excellent networking, interpersonal, influencing, and relationship-building abilities, and the credibility and persuasiveness to represent GFI Europe 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 SciTech team 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. 
• Fluent English, both written and spoken.

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

• A PhD in a relevant scientific field or the equivalent (eg a master’s degree plus significant relevant experience).
• Demonstrated interest or experience in science policy, for example, experience advising policymakers.
• An established network and rapport with a broad range of contacts relevant to GFI.
• The ability to work in European languages other than English, especially: German, French, Danish, Swedish. 

We want the best people and we know that building a diverse, inclusive workplace leads to stronger, happier, more productive and resilient teams. We strongly encourage people of every ethnicity, orientation, age, gender, origin, socio-economic background, and ability to apply. As a pan-European organisation, we welcome applications from across the whole continent. Because we value a diverse workplace, we prioritise an inclusive culture absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

Benefits and the fine print

• Terms of employment: Full-time (flexible hours), permanent. Requests for part-time hours (30 hours/week or above) can be considered. Please state this in your application.
• Location:  Flexible – we will consider applicants who are based in one of the following countries: Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany. This is a remote role, and you will be able to work from home, or anywhere you choose. We are happy to consider supporting costs for co-working to enable you to work from an office if you wish. The whole GFI Europe team aims to get together in-person approximately twice per year for around 3-5 days at a time. Travel costs will be covered by GFI Europe within our travel policy.
• Salary: The salary and benefits package for all of our roles are researched and benchmarked based on similar nonprofit roles in the country/location of hire. Due to capacity, we cannot complete that research for all countries in advance, but an approximate indicative range (total annual amounts received in gross salary plus benefits including home-working allowance) is likely to be:
  • €37,880 to €42,030 per year if based in France.
• Right to work requirements: The successful candidate must, by the start of the employment, be based and have permission to work in the country where they are based.
• Application deadline: Monday 15 September, 11.59pm CEST. We will get back to all candidates after that date, no matter the outcome of their application: you should expect to hear back from us within about two weeks of the deadline.

Application process

Round	Timeline	Description	Expected Time Commitment
Application	Deadline: Monday 15 September, 11.59pm CEST	Fill in the application form. As part of this, you will also have to answer work sample questions.	1 – 1.5 hours
Timed Assignment	End of September / early October	Some questions simulating the type of work you’d be doing in the role.	1.5 – 2.5 hours
Interview	Early / Mid-October	Interviews will be conducted remotely on Zoom. We know that interviews can be especially stressful for candidates. We’ve put together this guide so that you know exactly what to expect from our process and, hopefully, have a more relaxed experience.	1.5 hours

Dates and times of assignments and video calls can be arranged to fit around your commitments. Please note that we are ideally aiming for a quick turnaround of this hiring round, so please let us know if we should be aware of any capacity issues on your side. We are planning on making a final offer by the end of October – early November.

We want you to have every opportunity to shine and show us your talents – we are happy to make all the reasonable adjustments that we possibly can to make sure the assessment process works for you. Email us at europe-hiring@gfi.org

Any questions?

You’ll find the answer to a wide range of questions in relation to this role by checking out the Q&A session with Stella (the Hiring Manager) and Alex (the Managing Director) below. If you have any other questions about this role, feel free to reach out to us at europe-hiring@gfi.org.

If you’ve read this far but decided not to apply, please share this job description with someone else in your network who you think might be a good fit for the role!