Process Development Associate

**About us**:
Vow is a cultured meat company on a mission to feed billions and create food that's good for your tastebuds, your health and your planet.

We're bringing together cutting edge innovations in science, engineering, culinary and design to create new meats that meat lovers can choose selfishly because it's nutritious and delicious, and we're doing so in a sustainable way.

**The role**:
We're looking for a Process Development Associate to design and test mammalian cell culture bioprocesses at a benchtop scale to join our rapidly growing food company.

You'll work directly with operators on the factory floor, scientists, and other technical team members to design and test scalable & efficient cell culture processes to produce cultured meat. You will get to use a range of kit at different scales, from ambr15, to 2L stirred tank reactors, to rocking motion reactors, and design processes for 200-20,000L production reactors which are on site.

In this role you will have the opportunity to work alongside incredible mechanical, automation, software, hardware engineers, process development scientists, procurement and supply chain specialists, designers and culinary specialists who are relentlessly passionate about food and creating delicious products in a sustainable way.

**The experience you bring**:

- Relevant bachelor's degree with 2-5 years of experience in process sciences or manufacturing in mammalian, bacterial or yeast fermentation
- Competence in aseptic technique, mammalian seed train maintenance, media and buffer preparation, and using lab equipment including laminar flow hoods, incubators, autoclaves
- Knowledge of bioreactors or control systems, and familiarity with cell culture instrumentation including cell count, basic metabolites, pH, gassing
- Demonstrated organizational, record-keeping, and problem-solving skills, with an attention to detail
- Strong interpersonal skills including verbal and written communication
- Demonstrated success working independently as well as in a team environment
- Ability to act with agility and juggle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- Nice to have: understanding of design of experiment (DOE)

**You will**:

- Carry out seed train preparation, including vial revival, medium preparation, shake flask culture maintenance, and cell banking
- Carry out bioreactor setup and cleanup, preparing sub-assemblies and lines, autoclave operation, cleaning and coordinating equipment and laboratory space
- Carry out bioreactor operation and management including operating controllers, troubleshooting behavior, and processing samples
- Independently plan, review and execute experiments, record data and prepare documentation such as reports and SOPs
- Contribute to project ideation and experimental design for how upstream processes and approaches can introduce different product qualities or characteristics
- Contribute to process design, process optimisation, continuous optimisation, scale-up/scale-out, and technology transfer into manufacturing in close collaboration with, manufacturing engineering, new product introduction, and manufacturing quality teams.
- Identify and drive continuous improvement of workflows, protocols and capabilities

**What success looks like**:
During your first month, you will have successfully integrated into the process development team. By the end of this period, you will have:

- Developed a solid understanding of Vow's upstream manufacturing processes, including trade-offs, pain points, and what is possible and practical
- Gained insight into the structure of different teams at Vow and how they interact
- Acquired an awareness of the company's goals and how process development projects align with and contribute to them
- Demonstrated the ability to operate independently in the R&D lab, effectively using Vow's systems (in-house developed lab management software, LIMS etc) and understanding the associated workflows
- Provided support on wet-lab projects

Within three months you will have
- Delivered on multiple projects and contributed to discussions on what work should be prioritised versus archived or paused
- Reached a level of proficiency in operating various equipment as outlined in a training matrix

By the end of your first year at Vow you will have
- Made significant contributions to the design and implementation of new or improved production processes for current and future products
- You will have helped train and mentor a growing team of research technicians

**Who we are and why join**:

- **We are building a diverse, mission-led dream team of "Vowzers."** Our mission is to make food products for everyone. To do that well we need a workforce that's representative of the people we serve. We celebrate multiple approaches and points of view - so we're building a culture to match. Be yourself and come as you are.
- **Work on cutting-edge technology.** We're bringing together cutting-edge innovations in science, engineerin