Role
At Farmless we’re going beyond the limits of photosynthesis, to unlock a food system that can rewild the planet. And you’ll help make it legal.
Your role is to lead the approval process of the Farmless protein in the EU, the US and the UK. Working closely with our CEO, you’ll own our regulatory roadmap from day one, driving strategy and execution across multiple regions. This is a hands-on, build-from-scratch role. From writing and submitting Novel Food dossiers to creating a food safety management system that scales, you’ll do the work that directly determines where and how we launch our first products.
We’re based in Amsterdam, but open to exceptional people from anywhere. We’ll help you relocate if needed.
Responsibilities
Lead our regulatory strategy, guide the team in meeting major regulatory milestones in time
Write and submit Novel Food dossiers and handle Q&A from regulators (US, EU, other)
Build and maintain our food safety and quality system, integrated into BrewBase, our in-house operating platform
Manage all relationships with external parties around regulatory, including the development of potential new analytical methods
Improve traceability, documentation, and record-keeping protocols that scale with production
Understand the tension between regulatory restrictions and business needs to turn this into commercial opportunities
Requirements
Hands-on experience submitting and defending Novel Food dossiers or equivalents (GRAS, EFSA, etc.)
Deep technical understanding of analytical method development
A sharp scientific mind with the pragmatism to move fast at a commercial pace
Calm under pressure, fast in execution, comfortable in ambiguity
Bonus points for
Deep technical experience with fermentation or downstream processing
Experience with setting up or working in food safety systems
Seen early-stage scale-ups first-hand (and liked it)
Familiarity with global regulatory frameworks beyond EU and US (e.g. Singapore SFA, FSANZ, Codex) is a plus.
Rewards
A flat, fast, and curious team working on one of the most exciting challenges in food
An international, high-talent, low-ego culture where ideas matter more than titles
Room to grow into whatever version of the role you make yours
We offer relocation help (visum + relocation fee)
Daily plant-based lunch, snacks, fruits, drinks
In house gym & regular team sport activities
Fun off sites & team drinks
What we’re building
We’re going beyond the limiting constraints of photosynthesis.
We use natural fermentation to turn simple ingredients into complex proteins. It’s what we've been doing for millennia with wine, beer, bread and yoghurt.
Yet most fermentations rely on sugars - which are derived from crops grown on agricultural land. Our fermentation platform relies on an easily storable and shippable renewable energy based feedstock. This allows us to break free from the limiting constraints of photosynthesis.
We’re building the spiritual successor to the Haber-Bosch process. While Haber-Bosch led to cheap synthetic fertilizer which currently feeds half of humanity, we have found a way to produce amino acid complete proteins up to ±5000X more land efficient than animals. By rough approximation this could multiply the carrying capacity of the earth by an order of magnitude. The result of our ambition should be visible from space.
About us
We’re a small, highly technical and deeply curious team with deep food and fermentation expertise with backgrounds from the Vegetarian Butcher, Perfect Day to Noma and many more.
We’re flat and interdisciplinary by design. We value autonomy, speed, and ambition. You’ll have the freedom to build, and the responsibility to do it well.
We’re based within the city ring of Amsterdam – for a reason. We want to attract the best people from around the world and believe that Amsterdam is a great place to settle – and bike to work. On top of that, the Netherlands is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. The Dutch have a mindset to push the boundaries of food production and have the practical expertise to scale up our fermentation platform.
We believe hardware startups can thrive in Europe. If we can get approval here, we can do it anywhere (and we want Europe to accelerate).
We’ve raised €9M from world-class investors including World Fund, Vorwerk Ventures, Revent, and Nucleus Capital, and European and national grants.