Lead Scientist - Media Development

At Umami Meats, we are pioneering cultivated, 'not caught' seafood by developing the production system for delicious, nutritious, and affordable cultivated fish, starting with IUCN Red Listed species that are difficult to farm and being driven extinct by human consumption. We are partnering with food producers to scale our cultivated seafood production system to provide people around the world with a stable, resilient, local supply of seafood free from mercury, antibiotics, microplastics, and ocean pollutants.

We’re on a mission to empower humanity to eat sustainably without sacrifice. We believe the only way to change how the majority of the world eats meat and seafood is to create real seafood - the most delicious, healthiest seafood available - without the environmental and animal welfare consequences of our current practices.

We’re a venture-backed biotech startup located in Singapore where some of the world’s smartest, most passionate people are pioneering a sustainable food future that is attractive and accessible to people around the world. We are united by our collective drive to ask tough questions, take on challenging problems, and apply cutting-edge science and engineering to create a better future for humanity. At Umami Meats, you will be encouraged to dream big and will have the freedom to create, invent, and do the best, most impactful work of your career.

Umami Meats is looking to hire an inquisitive, innovative, and independent Lead Scientist - Media Development to join our R&D team in Singapore.

As Lead Scientist of Media Development, you will be building and coordinating a team of scientists to develop and optimize our proprietary, animal-component-free media formulations to support proliferation and differentiation of our fish cell lines. Successful candidates will demonstrate deep expertise of cell culture media development, methods of optimization, and compositional analysis, in addition to experience managing successful teams.In this role, you will independently lead and deliver on individual projects and to manage direct reports' schedules and priorities.

You will work directly with other members of our rapidly growing team to do cutting-edge science and will have the autonomy to set strategic direction, test new ideas, and identify better ways to do things.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize animal-component-free media formulations to support all relevant cell culture processes, including seed trains, proliferation, and differentiation
• Develop specifications, procedures, and testing protocols for new media formulation development, validation, and quality control
• Establish and execute high-throughput workflows to analyze media performance, collect metabolic data from our cell culture systems, and evaluate media formulations
• Collaborate with suppliers to source components and materials for media development
• Coordinate with other functional teams to define target criteria for media improvement, including improved product yield and quality and enhanced bioprocess performance
• Build and manage a team of motivated, passionate scientists
• Align with senior leadership to implement critical decisions
• Conduct rigorous experimental design, documentation, and data analysis
• Provide concise and effective reporting on project deliverables and presentation of data
• Provide creative solutions to challenging technical problems and demonstrating critical thinking

About You

Experience

• M.S. or PhD in a relevant field (Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Cell Biology, or equivalent
• 8+ years postgraduate (MS) or 6+ years post-doctoral experience in industry are preferred
• Direct experience in development and optimization of novel mammalian cell culture medias and high-throughput screening systems, including assay development and execution
• Proficiency with Design of Experiments (DOE) methodology for, including experiment design and data analysis
• Experience with media development and optimization and familiarity with mammalian metabolic pathways
• Track record of successfully leading small teams is strongly preferred
• Strong track record of peer-reviewed publications is preferred
• Demonstrated scientific rigor toward continuous improvement
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and skills to prioritize and deliver against timelines
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including strong command of the English language

Desired Technical skills

• Statistical background to design, run, and evaluate DOE along with understanding pros/cons of different DOE approaches
• Experience designing screening experiments via DOE, executing in high-throughput formats, and carrying out rigorous analysis of results
• Proficiency in statistical analysis tools and data science for media analysis
• Experience with common analytical methods for media development, including HPLC and LC-MS
• Basic understanding of bioreactor operations and scale-up