R&D Scientist

Company: Impossible Foods
Location: Redwood City
Posted on: April 1, 2026

Job Description:

Impossible Foods was founded to transform the global food system and reduce the impact of climate change by making the world’s most delicious, nutritious, and sustainable meat, fish, and dairy — from plants. We’re building a rockstar team of brilliant, collaborative, mission-driven individuals who take pride in using their diverse skills to contribute to saving our planet. Want to join the movement? You can help us solve the most urgent, important challenge facing the world today (and have fun doing it). Job Summary: We are seeking a mission-aligned Scientist, to join the Product Development Team -an interdisciplinary team of food scientists, chemists, designers, and chefs. You will be working on complex future products and be a technical lead on new material integration while creating prototypes with optimal flavors & textures. You are a curious, analytical, collaborative, and creative problem solver that has deep expertise in food ingredient functionality. You Will: ? Work as part of a team to deliver complex novel plant-based meat products ? Lead efforts on recreating a variety of animal tissue replicas using plant-based materials. ? Lead efforts to understand the interaction of ingredients and the effect of process parameters in complex food matrices, optimizing the system to deliver against the desired outcome. ? Use meticulous sensory and instrumental assays to guide and validate progress ? Use outside-the-box exploration: playful exploration and de novo prototyping ? Present experimental and project data to both research team and broader audiences ? Proactively collaborate cross-functionally, framing trade-off decisions to balance product targets, timelines, and COGS. ? Mentor research associates on technical approaches and best practices ? Participate in hands-on prototype creation and experimentation ? Participate in team tastings ? Voice ideas, concerns and solutions to teammates ? Keep a detailed experimental notebook and batch records You Have: ? M.S./Ph.D. in Materials Science, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science, or similar field with 4 year of product innovation experience ? Proven track record of innovative research and development projects ? A passion to create delicious plant-based products ? Strong chemical intuition, knowledge of flavor chemistry, gums, starches, and proteins, and how to modulate their characteristics with process, synergistic interactions with other materials, and different conditions within a product. ? Strong skills in designing experiments, data analysis, data interpretation, and communication results to both researchers and broader audiences ? Experience with formulation development ? Experience mentoring junior researchers ? Experience in designing and conducting sensory testing is a nice to have ? Self-starter that is naturally curious and enjoys working in a fast-paced environment ? Ability to continuously challenge assumptions to seek innovative solutions Impossible Foods Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a protected veteran, status as a qualified individual with a disability, or any other trait protected by law. Impossible Foods offers opportunities to all job seekers including job seekers with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your application for employment or interview process, please contact us by sending an email to recruiting@impossiblefoods.com or call 855-877-6365. Resumes or CVs submitted to this email inbox will not be accepted. If the ability to work remotely is indicated, this role can be performed from any US state except for Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. This role is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

Keywords: Impossible Foods, Castro Valley , R&D Scientist, Science, Research & Development , Redwood City, California