Data Engineer

At New Culture, we are making cow cheese without the cow. Dairy cheese is unsustainable and plant-based cheeses don’t work. Ours are sustainable, healthy, ethical, and indistinguishable from current dairy options in taste, texture, and function. Using fermentation to produce dairy proteins, food science to combine those proteins with natural ingredients, and traditional cheesemaking methods to make any cheese of choice, we are bringing about a new culture for the cheese industry.

We are a Bay Area-based, venture-backed startup in an exciting growth and rapid expansion phase. We are looking for a Data Engineer to join us in leading the global transformation to an animal-free dairy future. As an early member of the team, you will have significant influence and responsibility in determining the success and trajectory of New Culture. The ideal candidate is looking for a new challenge in a fast-moving, collaborative environment and has experience building up the data infrastructure for a deep technology organization.

What will you be doing:

• Identify, design and implement process improvements of data practices and data infrastructure, with the aim of automating manual processes while driving the vision for New Culture’s data future
• Lead the implementation of a LIMS/ELN system; support configuration, deployment, API integration, and learn the specifics of the chosen vendor’s system
• Ingest data collected from lab instruments using low level coding for automated ingestion
• Work with scientists, engineers, and operators across diverse disciplines to understand needs for their respective workflows with end goal being to make the data useful
• Train R&D staff on how to use the selected ELN/LIMS and doing any necessary product customization
• Build views of the data that allow for effective data analysis with a focus on making sure the product (ELN/LIMS) is being used in such a way that good data driven decisions are being made

What we expect from you:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, information systems, or a related field
• 5+ years experience in data engineering roles
• Strong customer service mindset, with demonstrated focus on user satisfaction
• Strong professional skills, including the ability to communicate to a non-technical audience and the ability to collaborate with individuals with diverse technical backgrounds
• Empower the R&D teams to collect and analyze their own data
• Ability to prioritize requests from multiple stakeholders
• Eagerness to build tools and code to integrate data from laboratory instruments
• Demonstrated success working independently on initiatives of high complexity, uncertainty, and risk with minimal guidance and direction
• Appropriate software skills, including a subset of:
• Experience with relevant languages (e.g., python, SQL)  
• Experience with cloud computing such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure
• Experience with business intelligence tools such as Spotfire, Tableau
• Experience with interactive computing tools such as Jupyter or Shiny
• Experience with Smartsheets, Monday.com or other PM software
• Experience developing schemas for novel datasets
• Curious about new data types, and demonstrated ability to quickly comprehend new complex data sources

Even better if you had:

• Deep experience with LIMS and ELN systems
• Experience working in biotech- and food tech-relevant fields, including molecular biology, fermentation, chemical analytics, material science, food science, and/or biochemistry

How to know you are a great fit:

We look for candidates who are team players, learners, doers, and hungry to make a difference in the world. Creativity and resourcefulness, honesty and empathy go a long way. Our five core values guide us on our path to achieving our mission.

Determination with Kindness | Have the resolve, the drive, and the will to succeed, but do it with empathy, encouragement, and compassion. In the face of adversity we will only excel as a team by keeping kindness at the forefront of everything we do.

Tenacity with Transparency | Creativity, persistence, questioning, and crazy ideas to solve hard problems are essential to our work. We do all of this out in the open while being honest and forthright about the new things we’re trying, getting feedback and input from our teammates along the way.

Teamwork with Rigor | Hold yourself and those around you to high standards and understand how your responsibilities are interconnected with others’. As much as you rely on your teammates, they’re relying on you, and only with consistent communication and rigorous teamwork will we achieve our goals together.

Speed with Focus | We move quickly, exploring new opportunities and incorporating new results to make progress rapidly. Remaining focused throughout our experimentations means making thoughtful decisions, listening to a range of perspectives, and moving forward as a unified team once we’ve committed to the path ahead.

Love the Product | Our breakthroughs are always in the pursuit of better products. It’s by selling delicious dairy that we will bring about a successful future for New Culture and a positive impact for our customers and the planet.