Back to jobs
New

Sr. Food Scientist, Product Development

Emeryville, CA

Just Food Company is on a mission to build a healthier, safer, and more sustainable food system—starting with what’s on your plate. From pioneering plant-based eggs to making real meat without slaughter, we’re reimagining the future of food in ways that are better for people and the planet.

We’re a lean, passionate team of scientists, chefs, engineers, and operators who believe that doing hard things well can make a meaningful difference. We’ve brought groundbreaking innovations to market, like Just Egg and GOOD Meat, and we’re just getting started.

If you’re excited by big challenges, real impact, and the chance to shape what the future tastes like—we’d love to meet you.

Learn more about us and our products →

What We're Looking For

Just Food Company is seeking a Senior Food Scientist, Product Development to lead the development, commercialization, and continuous improvement of products across our portfolio, with an initial focus on Just Meat.

This is a highly hands-on role for a technically rigorous food scientist who thrives at the intersection of formulation, process development, and manufacturing. The ideal candidate understands how ingredient functionality, protein chemistry, and product design translate from bench experimentation to pilot trials and ultimately to commercial production.

While experience with extrusion and alternative protein systems is highly desirable, we are ultimately seeking an analytical product developer who can apply scientific principles to solve complex technical challenges, unlock product innovation, and deliver commercially successful products at scale.

Based at our Emeryville headquarters, this role will work closely with Product Development, Operations, Quality, and our co-manufacturing partners to ensure products are scalable, manufacturable, and consistently deliver against quality and performance expectations.

 

What You’ll Do

  • Drive hands-on bench experimentation to prototype, evaluate, and refine formulations, developing a deep understanding of ingredient functionality and process interactions before advancing products to scale.
  • Develop and optimize formulations to improve product quality, nutrition, cost, manufacturability, and overall consumer experience.
  • Design and lead structured development plans, pilot trials, and commercial-scale manufacturing runs, translating experimental learnings into actionable product improvements.
  • Define product performance targets and evaluation frameworks that ensure development efforts remain aligned with quality, consumer experience, and commercial objectives.
  • Lead the full development lifecycle from concept through commercialization, maintaining hands-on involvement throughout the process to ensure product intent is successfully translated to large-scale production.
  • Develop and optimize extrusion parameters, including moisture, temperature, shear, and die configuration, to achieve target texture, structure, and product performance.
  • Partner closely with co-manufacturing facilities, spending meaningful time onsite to support production trials, troubleshoot technical challenges, and generate insights that drive formulation and process improvements.
  • Conduct root-cause analysis of production, quality, and performance challenges, using findings to inform future product and process development efforts.
  • Identify, evaluate, and implement new ingredients, technologies, and manufacturing approaches that expand product capabilities and advance innovation across the portfolio.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and external manufacturing partners to successfully commercialize new products and improve existing ones.

 

What You’ll Bring

  • Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline required; advanced degree preferred.
  • 5+ years of hands-on food product development, commercialization, or food science experience within a food manufacturing environment.
  • Demonstrated success bringing products from benchtop development through pilot and commercial production.
  • Strong understanding of ingredient functionality, protein systems, food chemistry, and structure-function relationships.
  • Experience designing and executing structured experimentation to solve formulation, processing, and manufacturing challenges.
  • Proven ability to translate laboratory findings into commercially scalable manufacturing processes.
  • Experience troubleshooting manufacturing environments and driving data-based process improvements.
  • Experience working cross-functionally with Product Development, Operations, Quality, and external manufacturing partners.
  • Experience with extrusion-based systems, alternative proteins, texturized protein technologies, or comparable food manufacturing processes strongly preferred.
  • High-moisture extrusion experience strongly preferred.
  • Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
  • Ability to translate technical insights into practical recommendations for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Willingness and ability to travel regularly to manufacturing sites.

Why Join Just Food Company

  • Be at the forefront of building the next generation of alternative protein products.
  • Own high-impact technical work that directly influences the success and growth of our Just Meat platform and broader product portfolio.
  • Work in a lean, highly collaborative environment where your contributions are visible and meaningful.
  • Partner closely with leadership, R&D, and manufacturing teams to shape the future of product innovation and commercialization at Just Food Company.

Compensation: The expected base salary range for this role (based in Emeryville, CA) is $150,000 - $175,000. Final compensation and level will be determined based on factors including experience, skills, qualifications, and overall fit for the role.

Additional Information & Requirements

  • This is a full-time onsite role based at our headquarters in Emeryville, CA. We are prioritizing candidates are currently located within a commutable distance of our office.
  • This role requires unrestricted domestic and international travel up to 30%.
  • Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. While Just Food Company may consider employment sponsorship on a case-by-case basis, we are unable to support most visa sponsorships at this time.
  • Just Food Company participates in E-Verify.

 

 

 

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Just Food Company? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

U.S. Standard Demographic Questions

We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process.
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Just Food Company’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.