Spectroscopy Lead (Principal Scientist, Applications Specialist)
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 Spectroscopy Lead (Senior Application Scientist / Principal Scientist) who is motivated by solving hard problems for real people (in this case: 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.
You are a highly skilled, experienced, motivated spectroscopist with a strong understanding and background in optical, fluorescence, and/or laser light scattering / vibrational spectroscopy with the ability to coordinate a team to build novel multi-modal, high-throughput systems & models that measure food biochemical and nutritional properties. Reporting to the Head of Food Science & Technology, you will lead the spectroscopy function, the company’s efforts to develop spectroscopic systems and the collaborations with chemometricians/data scientists. You'll need a background in physics and biochemistry to be successful in this role.
Your day-to-day mission will involve:
- Setting the vision and direction for our optical spectroscopy program including planning, operations, and execution.
- Integration of various spectroscopic technologies into a cohesive and optimized framework for food quality analysis.
- Manage operations related to spectroscopic analysis, set up SOPs for improved and efficient acquisitions, and develop the framework for reporting and growth.
- Oversee collaboration and timelines with various chemometric consultants for model development and integration.
- Set research and experiment priorities with respect to novel modalities and technologies for incorporation into the spectroscopy platform.
- Manage, organize, and report the activities and outcomes to Edacious leadership.
- Coordinate with the lab team & project manager on all required analysis and timelines
What you should have:
- A PhD in physics and/or photonics and/or vibrational spectroscopy and/or optical engineering, and biochemistry, or food science, or organic chemistry expertise with 3+ years spectroscopy experience; or an MSc in the same fields with 5 to 7 years of spectroscopy experience.
- Theoretical and practical knowledge of optical physics and/or illumination engineering, and its applications to chemistry and ideally food matrices.
- Advanced knowledge of optics and lasers.
- Experience in developing calibration methods, collecting data, and coordinating model building, testing and deployment of spectroscopic models.
- Ability to lead and mentor a team.
- Initiative, drive and passion to stay current and push boundaries in the fields of spectroscopy and interferometry particularly as they applied to food or other biological samples.
- Comfort interacting with an array of cross-functional and inter-disciplinary stakeholders including software and data science, food and agricultural professionals and investors.
- Effective and well-honed written and verbal communication skills as well as strong presentation and organizational skills.
Strong preference for:
- A strong interest and knowledge into the application of AI-ML to spectral data and chemometrics.
- Thoughts on the application of multi-modal approaches to spectroscopy to produce deeper and fuller analyses.
Where and how you would work:
- This Job is based in Marlborough, MA and it is expected that you will be present four to five (4 to 5) days per week at the laboratory.
- 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.