Background to the role

Enabling the research community to build a sustainable food system.

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is 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 2021 Year in Review and our 2021 Europe highlights blog post to find out more about who we are and what we do.

We are at an exciting stage in our growth and are looking for a Science and Technology Research Support Manager to join our team. For more information about this role, please take a look at the job brochure.

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.

3) Increase the research funding this community receives.

This role focuses on the second of these goals. As a nascent field, researchers may not have access to the latest information or research tools to carry out the most pressing research. Additionally, there are limited platforms for communication across different projects and jurisdictions.

In this role, you will lead the execution of a function within GFI Europe focused on facilitating the existing research community, ensuring that resources and time are dedicated towards the most important scientific research questions. You will engage with scientists, universities, companies, and science media across Europe to facilitate the sustainable proteins research community through two principal activities:

1) Helping the existing community access the best resources and information.

2) Improving knowledge sharing and collaboration.

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

• Developing and delivering a short-term and long-term strategy for facilitating the existing research community that aligns with the wider SciTech strategy for GFI Europe.
• Ensuring researchers are able to better access research tools and analyses to direct and facilitate existing research efforts. You will be reaching out, engaging with people, and sharing information and resources. This could include, among other things:
  • Curating and distributing information and analyses generated by either GFI’s global SciTech teams (for example, our alternative proteins solutions database) or external stakeholders to direct research towards the most pressing knowledge gaps. These resources are generally universal in scope, though if appropriate you might work with the owners to ensure they are as relevant as possible for researchers in Europe. 
  • Conducting supplier and technology provider outreach to increase awareness of the field’s needs for specific research tools (eg species-relevant cell lines for cultivated meat), information (eg protein characterisation data for different crop sources for plant-based meat), and reagents.
• Facilitating better collaboration within the research community through ensuring a centralised space for academics to share information, resources, network, and collaborate. This could include, among other things:
  • Helping to ensure the uptake and utility of existing GFI-led community forums in Europe (eg the GFIdeas community or Collaborative Researcher Directory).
  • Facilitating in-person or remote seminars, networking opportunities, researcher networks, and/or conferences for researchers in the space through supporting and shaping those led by external stakeholders.
• Potentially supporting researchers to identify routes to commercialise their innovations.
• Acting as the bridge and link between equivalent roles in GFI’s global SciTech teams and stakeholders in Europe.
• In conjunction with our Communications team, potentially communicating about sustainable proteins through science media and at scientific conferences.
• Performing other tasks as required as a member of our small, nimble team, for example including other Science and Technology work streams such as growing the sustainable proteins research community, or helping researchers secure access to grant funding.

Who we’re looking for

You must have:

• A passion for GFI’s philosophy and mission.
• A BSc (or equivalent) in a science or engineering field.
• A strategic mind: with your team, you will be responsible for selecting the highest-impact things to work on for facilitating the scientific community.
• 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.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to tailor messages to students, scientists, university administrators, companies, and other relevant audiences. 
• Excellent networking, interpersonal, influencing, and relationship-building abilities, and the credibility and persuasiveness to represent GFI in front of academic and other important stakeholders. 
• Strong team spirit and open and collaborative instincts (you will be working closely with colleagues in our US SciTech team and 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. 
• An affinity with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and with maintaining our welcoming and supportive culture.
• 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:

• Experience working with and supporting scientific research communities.
• Experience organising scientific conferences and events.
• Experience working with plant-based, fermentation-made, or cultivated meat companies.
• An established network and rapport with a broad range of contacts relevant to GFI.
• The ability to work in European languages other than English.

We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We strongly encourage people of every colour, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. As we are a pan-European organisation, we welcome applications from people from nations, locations and cultures across the whole continent. Because we value a diverse workplace, we prioritise an inclusive climate 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 (0.8 FTE or above) can be considered – please state in your application.

Location: Flexible – we will consider applicants from anywhere in Europe. 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 3-4 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 every European country in advance, but approximate indicative ranges (total annual amounts received in gross salary plus benefits including home-working allowance) are likely to be:

• €4,100 to €4,500 per month if based in Germany.
• £38,000 to £44,000 per year if based in the UK.

We actively encourage people from all countries across Europe to apply for this role. 

Right to work requirements: The successful candidate must, by the start of the employment, have permission to work in the country where they are based, and to be able to travel within the EU.

Application deadline: Monday 19 December, 11.59pm CET.

Application process

Please upload your sample work tasks through this short application form. The sample work tasks document can be found here.

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 

The full application process is outlined in the job brochure. We really look forward to hearing from you!

Any questions?

Watch the recording of our Q&A session, where Science and Technology Manager Seren Kell and Head of Operations Alex Mayers answered applicants’ questions about the role:

If you have any questions about this role, please do 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! Thank you.