About Wildtype
Wildtype is on a mission to create the cleanest, most sustainable seafood on the planet, starting with sushi-grade salmon. We’re pioneering cellular agriculture to protect wild species and our oceans, and to reverse trends of global food insecurity. Wildtype will provide consumers with a new option for real seafood that provides the same nutritional benefits as the most pristine wild-caught fish, without common contaminants such as mercury, microplastics, antibiotics, or pesticides.
We were founded in 2016 by Aryé Elfenbein, a cardiologist and molecular biologist, and Justin Kolbeck (CEO), a former US diplomat who served in Pakistan and Afghanistan, in an effort to solve one of the world’s biggest problems: how to feed a growing population without stripping the earth of its natural resources and biodiversity. Investors include L Catterton, Jeff Bezos, Spark Capital, CRV, Temasek, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition, among others.
Come join us in transforming our food system for good!
What you will own at Wildtype
- Working under the Tissue Engineering team to develop and optimize novel biomaterials for cultivating meat tissues.
- Develop and test biomaterials closely with crewmates across teams that include cell integration, cell biology, process development and product development, to deliver timely results.
- Pursue independent research interests and interact with a broad spectrum of researchers internally and externally.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
What we’ll teach you
- How to apply your skills in the context of cultivating next-generation sustainable meat.
- Novel product development process from conceptualization to final marketing.
- Scale up benchtop volumes of biomaterials/scaffolds to commercialization volumes
- How to continue growing as a scientist with outside-the-box thinking, creative experimental design, execution, and analysis
- Techniques such as hybrid scaffold fabrication, functional assays, advanced microscopy, rheology, texture analysis, and sourcing methodologies
What you bring to Wildtype
- BS or MS in Biomedical, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Material Science or related field.
- Strong background and hands-on experience in one or more of the following areas: natural and synthetic polymers, biomaterials/polymers synthesis, functionalization, fabrication and characterization, hydrogels fabrication, microbial or mammalian cell culture, developing novel engineering in vitro platforms and/or performing experimental validations of computational models.
- Nice to have experience in several of the following areas: skeletal muscle and/or cardiac tissue engineering, design of experiments (DOE), device design, data acquisition, programming, automation, and/or device characterization.
- Initiative and interpersonal skills and ability to work in a collaborative, multidisciplinary, and diverse team environment.
- Proficient verbal and written communication skills to collaborate effectively in a team environment and present and explain technical information.
- Comfortable taking notes, writing reports, and performing laboratory-related arithmetic.
- Capable of overcoming obstacles/difficulties with a positive attitude; enjoys challenges; proven ability to see goals through to the end.
- Able to learn quickly and excel in a fast-paced work environment.
- Self-starter, willing to take initiative to accomplish key tasks.
Impact Plan
- Within 1 month you’ll have carried out your first experiment on your own, with the support of your scientific mentor. We’ll rely on you to test different formulations and other experimental reagents without supervision. You will have performed a few advanced analyses on the samples you have produced. You will have defined your professional development goals for the next twelve months.
- Within 3 months you will be independently carrying out routine activities such as sourcing, formulations, and polymer functionalization and characterization without supervision. You will have contributed to the design of several experiments.
- Within 6 months your professional skills will have developed to the point where you can independently train a new hire on Wildtype’s scaffold fabrication process. Your work will be organized effectively to achieve tasks on time at a high level of quality. You will have executed your first independently designed experiment with controls, and presented your findings at a company-wide research meeting.
- Within 12 months you’ll be managing and carrying out multiple experiments simultaneously. You will be able to articulate how your work directly impacts the company’s milestones. You will routinely take the initiative to research topics independently and volunteer new ideas or approaches.
The hiring range for this position is $70,000 - $92,000, plus 90th percentile equity.
Location: this is an onsite role based in San Francisco.
To learn more about Wildtype and see our newest updates, check out our blog!
Wildtype is committed to building a diverse workplace spanning multiple dimensions including race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, and veteran status.
