Lead Mycologist

**Apply through our careers page on our website, we only look at the applications that come from our careers page.**

Esencia Foods is Europe s first company building fish and seafood alternatives based on mushroom mycelium, using solid-state fermentation.

Our mission is to foster the world s transition to a sustainable seafood system- without asking consumers to compromise on taste, texture, or price.

Our planet cannot sustain our current food system; therefore, we believe in producing exceptional alternative seafood products to remove the current strain on our environment and ensure food security for our future ever-growing population.

We are looking for a Lead Mycologist to pioneer the development of our unique mycelium-based technology platform to re-invent the food system.

This is your opportunity to have an impact on our planet and experience a startup in its earliest days.

Tasks

• Discovery and characterization of new fungal strains with the potential to become alt-seafood
• Creating and developing multiple approaches to achieve novel mycelium textures
• Design and execution of experiments to optimize the substrate, inoculation and mycelial growth.
• Develop methodologies to characterize mycelium biochemical, material and nutritional properties
• Developing and executing RnD strategy plan as well as supporting strategic decisions
• Working closely with food scientists, fermentation and bioprocess engineers to translate lab discoveries into scalable technologies

Requirements

• Degrees are great, relevant experience is better. This can come in the form of MSc. +4 years experience, or PhD +1 year experience in Mycology, Biotechnology or any relevant experience
• A positive attitude and an overflowing motivation
• Experience in working with strong aseptic conditions required for fungal mycology
• A track record of willingness to learn, to adapt, getting stuff done, and being proactive
• Excellent written and verbal skills in English
• Experiences in the Food Industry and Bioprocess Development
• Experiences with a relationship to the Food Industry
• Experience in Bioprocess development
• Experience in DOE

Benefits

• You will work directly the founders: Bruno, the CTO, a unique mix between a PhD in Biophysics from Max-Planck Institute and a Cook. Hendrik, the CEO, a former M&A consultant and senior leader from a b2c unicorn. We will work together and take joint decisions.
• Trans-disciplinarity at its peak: we believe invention only happens when you connect dots that are seemingly far apart. Really far apart.
• A high-impact, ambitious startup environment with the ability to learn and grow alongside the company
• The opportunity to work on groundbreaking technology and make a true impact on the environment and our food system
• A fun, flexible and rewarding environment where you can have the ability to thrive as a person
• We will have proper heating by the time you join

Excited to work with us?

Apply by visiting our careers page on our website!

**We only look at applications that come from our careers page.**