Head of Science of Technology

Closing February 26th 

Apply here: https://www.counterfactual.co/join-us 

Our Head of Science & Technology leads research that will inspire the launch of our ventures. The Head of Science and Technology co-leads the Research Design & Build (RDB) team together with the Head of Venture Creation. The RDB team explores major challenges, gaps and opportunities in the alternative protein and alternative material industries. Entrepreneurs in each cohort are eventually matched with candidate company ideas that have been vetted by the RDB team.

The co-leads will work closely together to define, optimize and implement a systematic process to identify the most important and promising challenges to address, ideate and critically assess solutions to these challenges, and develop technical roadmaps for the top candidates for company ideas. The research consists of a combination of desktop research and external outreach.

Must-haves

...or feel free to convince us otherwise. Everything depends on working with the right people, so we're happy to be persuaded that you would be a great fit with our team!

·      PhD or equivalent in a relevant technical discipline:

–      Biology: Biochemistry, systems biology, genetics, cell biology, neuroscience, stem cells, microbiology, or plant biology

–      Food Science: Related to chemistry, processing, and/or mechanics

–      Engineering:  Bioengineering, biotechnology, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, genetic engineering, protein engineering, industrial engineering (relevant to fermentation or bioprocessing), process engineering

·      Deep expertise in one or more of the following food and/or material technologies: plant-based, cultivated, fermentation, and blended

·      Active interest in systematically exploring all the ways in which technology can replace factory farming. This includes the ability to assess technical promise of commercial viability within deep tech IP and B2B solutions, while also assisting the Head of Venture Creation in thinking through the commercial viability of opportunities in geographic, behavioral and market segment dimensions.

·      Prior experience leading, coordinating and working within a team. Strong interest in working within a team

·      Ability to be highly organized and self-managed, leading with a high degree of autonomy

·      Experience with or interest in the commercial side of company building

·      Previous entrepreneurial experience and excitement to be in a startup environment

·      Excels at ‘blue sky thinking’ and thrives on putting in the work

Nice to haves:

·      Experience in commercial R&D

·      Experience working with IP, and researching and assessing patents

·      Having a wide-ranging network that can assist in the exploration and research of adjacent technical areas

·      Extensive experience in the alternative protein space 

More Info

• Location – Post COVID, the team will likely be based in London/Europe, depending on how the new world shapes itself. An openness to relocate post COVID is strongly preferred: to London, or a highly desirable EU city (Lisbon, Berlin and Amsterdam are on the list of candidate cities). In the meantime, fully remote arrangements on UK/EU timezones are the default.
• Remote work timezone – After attempts to work with teams distributed from West Coast US to Mumbai, we've decided to shift our core operating timezone to align with London (this may change as we select an HQ city post COVID). If currently located far east or west, we can temporarily accommodate partial work-hour overlap (ex. 5am PST start = 1pm GMT), though this wouldn't be a permanent arrangement.
• Salary – Highly competitive combination of salary and equity incentives with significant room for growth.