Transition food manufacturers and ingredient companies towards alternative proteins

The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution needed to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals.

How You Will Make a Difference

In this role, you will lead GFI’s engagement with corporate food manufacturers and key companies upstream in the supply chain to accelerate the shift towards alternative proteins. The Corporate Engagement Manager will be responsible for:

• Serving as the primary point of contact and relationship manager for food manufacturers, ingredient companies, and other companies upstream in the alternative protein supply chain to effectively engage and influence these companies to increase their sales of and commitment to alternative proteins.
• Developing and documenting an annual strategy for engagement with these audiences, including identifying priority companies, overarching sector initiatives, communication and event vehicles, and open-source resources.
• Building relationships, delivering presentations, and providing education to these audiences to help them develop and execute against goals to diversify their protein business.
• Sharing presentations and moderating panels at industry conferences and events to educate these audiences and promoting the industry through drafting blog posts and media interviews.
• Collaborating with the Investor Engagement Manager and Entrepreneur and Innovation Manager to identify possible financing and de-risking opportunities (broadly, not for specific companies) for these audiences (e.g. partnerships, investments, etc.) and determining how to leverage ESG investor needs to increase company commitments to alternative proteins. Exploring large purchasing agreement strategies, such as institutional procurement and other guaranteed purchase agreements.
• Analyzing the relevant competitive landscape and related market data to identify opportunities and inform strategic initiatives for GFI’s engagement with these audiences.
• Collaborating with the Corporate Engagement Lead, Retail and Food Service to lead GFI’s LINC community, bringing companies across the value chain together to foster collaborations that remove barriers to growth and help the industry scale.
• Developing strategic partnerships with other stakeholders to accelerate the participation of companies selling and distributing food within the alternative protein ecosystem.
• Supporting multinational engagement efforts as needed for partners at GFI’s international affiliates in Brazil, Europe, Israel, and Asia, and also where a GFI affiliate is not present.
• Conducting surveys and using other research methods to evaluate GFI’s sales and distribution focused corporate engagement services and to inform future prioritization.
• Maintaining a significant understanding of alternative protein products and staying abreast of technological innovations and trends as they relate to food manufacturers and companies in the supply chain.
• Liaising with GFI staff and our network of experts to provide support to food manufacturing and ingredient companies.
• Sharing presentations and moderating panels at industry conferences and events to educate these audiences and promoting the industry through drafting blog posts and media interviews.
• Maintaining a portfolio of company engagements and supporting the SVP of Corporate Engagement with presentations to her company portfolio.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We use a third-party anonymizing tool to redact personal information from submitted applications — including name, location, contact details, and several other factors — to reduce bias and increase fairness in our process. We strongly encourage people of every race, color, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. Since we value a diverse workplace, we prioritize an inclusive climate absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

Research indicates that men tend to apply for jobs when they meet just 60% of the criteria, while women and people from other marginalized groups only apply if they are a 100% match. If you are passionate about GFI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even if you don’t check all the boxes, please apply. We’d appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

Who We’re Looking For

The Corporate Engagement Manager must have:

• A bachelor’s degree in business marketing, business administration, supply chain ethics, or related fields from an accredited college or university is preferred. An MBA or equivalent experience is a plus.
• At least five years of relevant experience working in or directly alongside food & beverage CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies; brand management, sales/business development, or operations experience at a CPG company preferred.
• Demonstrated passion and interest in the alternative protein industry; existing industry knowledge preferred.
• Demonstrated understanding of how the packaged food industry operates across the value chain.
• Strong analytical, writing, and presentation skills.
• A demonstrated strong work ethic, a high degree of self-motivation, and intellectual curiosity.
• Persuasive and engaging interpersonal skills; the ability to build effective working relationships with entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and company executives.
• Ability to work independently and use sound judgment in decision making, including setting and managing priorities and meeting competing deadlines.
• A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to nurturing this on your team and throughout GFI.
• Comfort working remotely and in a rapidly growing and evolving organization.
• Strong support for GFI’s philosophy and mission; demonstrated interest in plant based & other alt proteins, public health, environmentalism, climate change, animal protection, or hunger relief.
• A commitment to GFI’s values: believe change is possible, do the most good we can, share knowledge freely, act on evidence, and invite everyone to the table.

The Fine Print

• Terms of employment: Full-time, exempt
• Reports to: Tessa Hale,Director of Corporate Engagement
• Location: Remote; United States
• Travel: Regular travel is required for this role; up to 1.5 trips per month and up to two weeks per year for organization retreats
• Benefits: Working from home, full medical coverage, optional dental and vision packages, a 401(k) plan with employer match, flexible holiday and vacation plans, opportunity for advancement, respectful managers, and supportive colleagues. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/GFIBenefits.
• This is a U.S.-based position: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.
• COVID vaccination policy: GFI requires all US employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Proof of vaccination will be requested before the start of employment. GFI will consider requests for accommodations or exemptions from this policy on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with applicable laws. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/GFICovidPolicy.
• Salary: $96,473.52 - $100,960.60 (depending on experience and qualifications)

Application Deadline: February 14, 2024

Anticipated Start Date: April 1, 2024

Decided not to apply? If after reviewing this job description, you have decided not to apply, please let us know why by completing this short survey: https://tinyurl.com/GFIJobSurvey.

Interested in working at the Good Food Institute? Join us for the Career Opportunities Webinar to learn more about our work and ask questions about specific job opportunities! See upcoming webinar dates and more information at https://tinyurl.com/GFICareers.

Application Instructions

GFI uses an anonymized hiring system that redacts key identifying personal information from all applications. We are testing this tool as part of an effort to reduce bias in our hiring process. Following these instructions will help to ensure your application is not delayed by a failed redaction.

• Where possible, limit the creative formatting of your documents. If the name on your resume is an inserted image file or is styled with large spaces between each letter, for example, the redaction is likely to fail. Colors and designs are OK, but wherever possible, the text itself should just be regular text.
• Please use consistent names. It helps to ensure that the name you use in your resume and cover letter is the same as the name you type into the application below. For example, if your name is Jennifer, please sign your cover letter as “Jennifer” rather than “Jenny.”
• Submit PDF or .docx files only. Other file formats, like .txt, are likely to fail redaction.
• Please do not include personal identifying information in your responses to the application questions. Referencing past education, work experience, and mission-alignment is OK.
• Please do not contact the role’s supervisor or any potential member of the hiring team. If you have questions, please email [email protected].

Thank you for helping us to ensure that the redaction process works smoothly and to review your application as quickly as possible!