Head of Food Science & Technology
Edacious
IT
Marlborough, MA, USA
Posted on Wednesday, May 1, 2024
A New Food System in which Quantity & Quality can Coexist
Our food systems produce more calories than society needs and are incentivized to yield the greatest quantity of food at the lowest possible cost. We have succeeded in optimizing a single outcome - a calorie rich world. But success has come at a huge toll: a global, multifaceted environmental and health crisis. 25%+ of global GHG emissions are generated from farm to fork and the negative impacts of agriculture, food production and land-use on climate cost us $3 trillion USD per year. Meanwhile, our current diets are responsible for a 70% increase in obesity affecting 1.5Bn people, and the costs of diet-related chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, cancer) amount to $13 trillion/year.
At Edacious, we believe food should be plentiful AND nutritious. As the impacts of yield-obsessed food production on human and environmental health become clear, the ability to measure nutrition as easily as we measure yield becomes critical. Why? There's mounting scientific evidence that the healthiest foods come from farming practices that are best for the planet and the most nutritious food is also the most flavorful and sustainable. Our vision is to shift the food system so it may better serve consumers, producers, and our planet and our mission is nutritional transparency.
Measuring & Comparing Food Quality Through a Nutrition & Climate Lens
Edacious is a multi-disciplinary technology company. We are chemists, designers, engineers, and systems-thinkers who believe that nutrition can be used as a lever to impact climate change at scale by accelerating the production and demand for healthier, climate-smart foods. To achieve this, we create novel analysis tools and generate actionable data for producers to understand the factors behind more nutritious food providing a roadmap to improve their operations and for buyers to know the nutritional quality of the food they purchase so they can make better decisions for their health, wallets and the environment.
Edacious was co-founded by Eric Smith in 2022. Eric has spent his career working at the intersection of economics and nature. He was previously the director of the venture capital vehicle Neglected Climate Opportunities (NCO) at the Grantham Environmental Trust, where he co-led over 40 direct investments in start-ups across all stages that remove carbon and GHG at scale. Before that, he was with SJF Ventures and worked for BlackRock on climate finance. Edacious has garnered the backing of solid investors such as Elemental Excelerator, Grantham’s Neglected Climate Opportunities and Tin Shed Ventures, the venture arm of Patagonia and the Nest Family Office of Belgium.
Position Overview
The software we make takes big data from our lab and presents it to food and agriculture professionals so that they can (1) improve food production and quality and (2) tell the story of how good their food really is. We're looking for a Head of Food Science and Technology who is motivated by solving hard problems for real people (in this case: measuring food nutritional composition for farmers, food producers, and eaters everywhere). Come help us build an ambitious startup that exists to illuminate the connections between climate, agriculture, nutrition, and human health.
Reporting to the CEO, you will lead and manage our lab analysis platform and science programs, the operations of our laboratory and be responsible for overseeing analytical chemistry, spectroscopy, and QA/QC. Our laboratory science and technology team is focused on building novel food datasets generated from mass spectroscopy instrumentation to enable the understanding of the true complexity & variability of food. You will oversee the operations, layout, process, and overall flow of our laboratory science & technology including planning and managing human and instrument resources.
Your day-to-day mission will involve:
- Setting the vision and direction for our multi-modal lab analysis platform and science programs including analytical chemistry, optical spectroscopy and QA/QC from planning, operations, and execution.
- Management of laboratory teams of scientists, chemists, and technicians, including supervision, support, and scheduling as well as hiring of future team members.
- Leading laboratory management, including oversight of data collection, analysis, troubleshooting, and maintenance and technical oversight of chromatography, mass spectrometry and spectroscopy instruments (GC-MS, LC-MS, ICP-MS).
- Oversee integration, collaboration and timelines with other functions from product, engineering, and data science teams.
- Selection and implementation of a Laboratory Management Information System appropriate for laboratory and company growth.
- Scheduling and managing laboratory assets for high-throughput analysis of samples, including data generation for both customer reporting and database acquisition.
- Oversee the preparation of analysis reports on food composition analysis generated from lab equipment using analytical techniques and statistical methods.
- Ensuring completion of projects in a time effective manner that produces defensible data as it relates to quality control, quality assurance, validation and result reporting.
- Development, implementation and maintenance of laboratory policies in accordance with the Quality Management System that ensures the lab is operated in a productive and compliant manner with ISO 17025 as well as Health, Safety, and Hazardous Materials Handling training and procedures.
- Provides mentorship, training, prioritization and guidance to assigned staff on laboratory protocols and methods to meet client & project needs including collaboration with an interdisciplinary team to complete project workflows.
- Demonstrates a positive, collaborative attitude under pressure while ensuring the timely reporting of laboratory deliverables.
- Build a positive lab and scientific culture in line with company values and remote team engagement.
What you should have:
- PhD with 10 years or MS with 12+ years of experience in analytical chemistry, chemistry, biochemistry, or nutritional biochemistry
- Experience in the food science, pharmaceutical, and/or biotechnology sectors.
- 7 to 10+ years of lab management experience with a focus on operations, services, QC/QA, and supervision
- Previous experience managing a laboratory with multi-modal mass spectrometry technologies with an understanding of chromatographic separation, mass spectral fragmentation, and determination of unknown compounds.
- Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills.
- In depth knowledge of wet chemistry ideally as it relates to extraction of analytes from complex food matrices according to AOAC and modified AOAC methods.
- Experience with ISO 17025 accreditation and/or taken a lab through this process.
- Demonstrated leadership and vision in managing staff and projects.
- Excellent communication skills.
Strong preference for:
- Experience with method development, validation, and deployment for analysis of common food analytes in multi-dimensional food types (e.g. vitamins, fatty acids, elements) and structure elucidation of unknown analytes using mass spectrometry.
- Experience working with extraction and analytical techniques in food matrices.
Where and how you would work
- The job is based in Marlborough, MA and it is expected that you will be present four to five (4-5) days per week at the lab.
- Candidates will need a driver's license and must undergo a background check.
- All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.
- This job requires a permanent work visa for employment in the U.S.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Diversity is the foundation of life and has created this beautiful world we live in. Just as nature has shown us the importance of diversity in biology, it is critical to build this diversity into our social structures. To the extent that we can build communities and teams that work in symbiotic and constructive ways, contributing to greater levels of productivity and resilience, the more successful we will be. We wish to attract diverse individuals in experience, perspective, and culture. Our company must represent the broader global food system if we are to be successful in this endeavor and so we seek to recruit and build teams that represent the beautiful diversity of people and life present on this planet.