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Plantible Foods is a venture-backed biology company focused on unlocking sustainable plant-based solutions for the food industry. Backed by Astanor Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Piva Capital, Kellogg's, and Vectr Ventures, the company is creating regenerative ingredient alternatives without compromising quality.
In this standalone commercial role, you will own a named account list and carry quota, reporting to the Head of Commercial Development. You will drive revenue growth while directing R&D priorities—deciding what gets tested, why, and what results mean for customers and the business.
Key responsibilities include:
**Sell:** Own and manage a named account list through prospecting, qualification, closing, and reorder cycles. Carry a weekly number and negotiate pricing, volume commitments, and development agreements with food manufacturers.
**Translate Value:** Map customer formulations, process constraints, and ingredient cost structures. Specify and direct application trials with internal and customer R&D teams, setting hypotheses and interpreting results to drive iterations. Quantify customer benefits including cost-in-use, functional replacement ratios, label/claim impact, and process/yield improvements. Participate in customer pilot plants with sufficient technical depth to validate trial results.
**Innovate:** Challenge industry conventions around ingredient qualification timelines and remove barriers that don't apply to Plantible. Feed customer requirements back into product development and specification.
You will operate in an early-stage environment with minimal infrastructure—no dedicated marketing, sales ops, or brand support. Success requires direct customer engagement, technical credibility, and entrepreneurial problem-solving.
**Requirements:**
- 5+ years of experience selling functional ingredients (proteins, hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, enzymes, starches) into confectionery, bakery, or condiments, with personally closed deals
- Deep command of gelation, aeration, emulsification, water binding, and heat stability in real food systems
- Quota-carrying experience in an early-stage ingredient business, growing revenue from zero toward scale ($0–$50M trajectory)
- Hands-on experience operating without marketing, sales ops, or brand infrastructure
- Technical degree in food science, chemical engineering, or equivalent lab/plant-based fluency
**Preferred qualifications:**
- Hands-on product development experience (bench, pilot, sensory, shelf life, scale-up, spec, QA, regulatory)
- Track record replacing an incumbent functional ingredient in a live commercial application and holding spec through scale-up (egg, dairy protein, hydrocolloid, or emulsifier)
- Experience taking a novel ingredient through full customer qualification, including regulatory and supply-continuity objections
- Founder or early commercial hire at a startup selling physical products to industrial buyers
- Existing relationships with R&D or procurement at major confectionery, bakery, condiment, or CPG accounts
