Lead Expert Process Industrialization (f/m/d) FoodTech Startup at Planet A Foods

Do you want to make a delicious difference?

Planet A Foods is for people who want to change the future of food.

We are reinventing how the world produces food ingredients, replacing scarce and unsustainable raw materials with scalable, clean, and delicious alternatives. Our first product, a cocoa-free chocolate, is just the beginning. Our ambition is to build a new global champion in food ingredients.

At Planet A Foods, you'll join a bold, highly committed, international team of scientists, engineers, operators, and industry experts united by one goal: creating real, measurable planetary impact.

As Lead Expert Process Industrialization (f/m/d), you will own the industrialization of our core production process end-to-end turning R&D breakthroughs into equipment specifications, operational realities, and a commercially viable cost structure. You will serve as the strategic interface between the CTO, Product & Application, Production, CAPEX, and Procurement. We are looking for a proactive driver who brings the analysis, recommendations, and execution plans to the table. With a critical scaling milestone in 2027 and a continuous-process target on the horizon, your work will directly impact whether our business plan succeeds.

Alongside our Experts for Flavor & Analytics and IP & Data, you will form our Science Hub, reporting directly to the Head of R&D (currently our CTO, Sara Marquart).

Please note: This position is an 18-month fixed-term contract to cover parental leave, with the potential to transition into a permanent role upon contract completion.

A Taste of What to Expect

• Drive Strategy & Scale: Shape the strategic roadmap for capacity scale-up and COGS optimization — proactively providing the CTO, Production, and Procurement teams with the data-driven direction needed to make sound decisions.

• Own Process & Governance: Own end-to-end feasibility studies and tech transfers for newly developed processes, holding clear review and approval authority over non-standard process modifications.

• Lead Through Influence: Lead cross-functional matrix teams with a hands-on approach — mentoring Process Engineers, establishing missing operational structures, and keeping key stakeholders aligned.

• Bridge R&D to Reality: Translate laboratory breakthroughs into robust equipment specifications and production requirements, rigorous technology stress-tests, and clear financial models.

• Guard Standards & Escalate: Act as a critical gatekeeper by exercising veto rights on high-risk implementations, escalating immediately to the CTO if product quality, safety, CAPEX headroom, or target COGS are at risk.

• Align Engineering & CAPEX: Feed validated process specifications directly into the Pilsen 2.0 CAPEX roadmap, ensuring seamless alignment between process industrialization and capital expenditure.

The Perfect Recipe of Skills & Experience

• Proven Scale-Up Track Record: Hands-on experience scaling lab-scale processes to profitable industrial production amidst real-world complexity.

• Food & Process Expertise: Degree in Food Technology or Chemical/Process Engineering with a deep understanding of how process parameters affect food product sensory (taste, texture, stability).

• Chemical/Process Engineering: Deep expertise in food or powder-handling unit operations, with a hands-on mastery of thermodynamics, heat transfer, particle technology, and mass balances.

• Safety & Operations Mastery: Familiarity with ATEX environments and a clear understanding of how physical scaling effects impact complex unit operations.

• Technical Infrastructure & CAPEX: Hands-on experience with P&ID design, automation schemes, equipment procurement, and a clear grasp of manufacturing costs, capital expenditure, and operating expenses (COGS/CAPEX/OPEX)

• Mindset & Languages: Intellectually curious, creative problem solver who challenges the status quo. Fluent in English; conversational German or Czech is a plus.

A Sweet Package

• Early ownership and responsibility in a fast-moving environment
• Collaborate with a passionate international team working at the edge of what's possible
• Work in a rare food-tech startups that is scaling and operating in a 24/7 4-shift production system 
• A position where you can help to challenge a trillion-dollar industry!
• A very competitive compensation and opportunity to grow
• Stuff that other startups do as well (30 days vacation, tasty lunches, snacks, drinks, vouchers, gym...)
• PLUS: Chocolate. Every. Single. Day.