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Salary: USD 145,000 - 165,000 / annual
UPSIDE Foods is the world's leading cultivated meat company, having achieved FDA and USDA approval for cultivated meat products sold in the United States. The company has raised over $600 million from investors including Cargill, SoftBank, Temasek, Tyson, and Whole Foods.
The Food Manufacturing Manager owns conversion and formulation at EPIC, UPSIDE's USDA-regulated production facility where cultured cells and tissue are transformed into ready-to-eat meat products. This role combines process establishment with operational efficiency, requiring both commissioning of complex processing equipment alongside fabricators and design engineers, and running production to schedule with federal inspection oversight.
Key responsibilities include:
**Production Leadership:** Lead daily operations including labor and materials planning, run strategy, and throughput against schedule. Design and lead production processes for finished meat products made from cultured cells and plant ingredients. Own manufacturing KPIs (OEE, yield, throughput, first-pass quality, cost per pound) and conduct operating reviews. Build run strategies that sequence product, sanitation, and changeover to maximize hygienic run time. Own the manufacturing operating budget and contribute to capital planning.
**Equipment Commissioning and Reliability:** Interface directly with fabricators and equipment providers on reliability, qualification, hygienic design, and cost. Evaluate equipment against hygienic design principles (3-A, EHEDG) and reject designs that cannot meet sanitation standards. Partner with Engineering and Facilities on preventive maintenance strategy, spare parts, and reliability-centered improvement. Operate complex machines and instruments for production and storage in a USDA-regulated facility.
**Regulatory Execution:** Serve as principal operational contact for in-plant FSIS personnel, accompany inspection walks, and answer for floor operations. Execute to HACCP plan, SSOPs, and preventive controls, ensuring all CCP monitoring is performed and recorded. Own the operational side of Noncompliance Record response—investigate root cause, implement corrective action, and produce closing evidence. Own lot control and traceability for accurate and quick holds. Maintain readiness for unannounced inspection at all times.
**Process Development and Scale-up:** Partner with Food R&D on technology transfer, translating bench and pilot processes into manufacturable, validated, inspection-ready operations. Lead process capability work to identify sources of variation and drive continuous improvement.
First-year contributions include building working relationships with USDA-FSIS officials, commissioning and qualifying complex meat processing machines, establishing verification and documentation packages for Finished Good processes, developing manufacturing KPIs aligned to OKRs, and improving the operational framework for safety, quality, efficiency, and reliability.
The role requires deep technical understanding of food safety hazards (Salmonella and Listeria control for ready-to-cook products), hygienic design principles, and USDA-FSIS regulations. You will work directly with senior leadership, integrated supply chain, and every operational function in EPIC, as well as external fabricators, equipment vendors, and USDA-FSIS personnel.
**Requirements:**
The posting does not explicitly state years of experience or formal education requirements. However, the role demands: expertise in food manufacturing and USDA-FSIS regulatory compliance; deep knowledge of HACCP, SSOPs, and preventive controls; understanding of hygienic design principles (3-A, EHEDG); experience with complex industrial meat processing equipment commissioning and reliability; ability to interface with federal inspectors and equipment fabricators; strong project management and operating review leadership; and demonstrated capability to translate R&D processes into production-scale operations.
