OVERVIEW

Kingdom Supercultures designs and supplies a new class of natural ingredients that make it easy for food and beverage manufacturers to create exciting products that are healthier and more sustainable. These Superculture ingredients are composed entirely of microbial strains found naturally in food, which Kingdom rearranges into new combinations with exciting new functionalities. Manufacturers then use Superculture ingredients to create plant-based yogurts and cheeses that taste like real dairy, fermented beverages with no sugar, and natural bio-preservatives to replace artificial ones. Our vision is to replace artificial chemicals and GMOs with natural Superculture solutions as the ingredient backbone of the modern consumer packaged goods industry.

We’re looking for a Research Associate to join our founding scientific team of biochemists, bioengineers, biologists, and computational scientists. This individual will make critical experimental contributions to customer projects focused on developing a variety of exciting biopreservation products and greatly expand the team’s capability to execute more biopreservation projects.

We’re in active R&D projects with some of the largest and most innovative CPG food and beverage manufacturers in the world, supplying cultures to Eleven Madison Park (rated as one of the top restaurants in the world) to enable their new plant-based menu, and are already powering products on store shelves nationally. We’ve raised nearly $30M in funding from top investors including Shine, Valor, Lux, Sequoia, and Y-Combinator, and are still in the early stages of our journey. This is a full-time, in-person role at our state-of-the-art HQ in Brooklyn, NY.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Research Associate will collaborate closely with the Senior Scientist, Functional Ingredients to:

• Drive biopreservation customer projects through optimizing and executing high-throughput screening (HTS), validating screening hits, and performing application testing in realistic food matrices

• Execute and contribute to the development of biological assays for a variety of customer projects

• Contribute to the planning, design, and improvement of biopreservation experiments and effectively communicate their results to key stakeholders

• Work with the Commercial team to provide technical support to customers, ensuring the success of biopreservation products

COMPETENCIES & QUALIFICATIONS

• 1+ years working with microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, fungi, etc.)

• Experience designing, executing, and troubleshooting experiments in a wet lab environment; strong preference for experience working with food matrices and application testing

• Excellent sterile technique

• Effective verbal and written communication, including in lab notation based on existing formats and SOPs

• Able to maintain attention to detail while managing multiple projects simultaneously

• Able to work collaboratively within a small, functionally diverse team

Other attributes that are preferred but not required:

• Strong desire to work at a startup

• Experience with high-throughput screening

• Experience at a biotech or life sciences company

Not sure you meet 100% of our qualifications? If you believe you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We encourage anyone who thinks they would excel here to apply, no matter their background, how they identify, or their professional background.

Kingdom aims to help create a world that is healthier, more sustainable, and more delightful. We believe that fostering an equitable, inclusive workplace that empowers our team is the best way to achieve that goal. One component of this effort is to actively recruit exceptional talent from communities underrepresented in our fields, especially in STEM. Applicants will never be disqualified nor discriminated against by race, class, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or criminal history.

OUR VALUES

• Collaborate with kindness

• Critique by creating

• Empower the team

• Focus our energy

• Learn through curiosity

• Take complete ownership

• Uphold scientific integrity

WHY JOIN KINGDOM SUPERCULTURES?

• Meaningful work: You’ll be at the forefront of Superculture product development, driving customer projects and contributing directly to positive consumer health and environmental sustainability impacts.

• Valued member of a high-performing team: As an early member of the team, you’ll have the opportunity to become a leader of a fast-growing company that rewards high performance with advancement opportunities and greater responsibilities.

• Growth and learning: Tackle opportunities with an organization that will learn and grow alongside you. Every customer project presents unique, engaging challenges that will help you grow as a scientist.

• Ownership and autonomy: Have and feel responsibility for individually driving scientific experimentation and deliverables, but with the mentorship and support of the Kingdom team.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

To build a world-class team, Kingdom is transparent and generous with our compensation package. We anchor our cash salary above competitive compensation for your role compared to similar companies (i.e. valuation, stage, industry, etc.). We then go above and beyond competitive compensation for equity stock options, as we want everyone to be aligned with our long-term success.

For this position, we are most actively considering candidates aligned with our expectations for Research Associate I (about 1-2 years of relevant full-time experience; cash salary range: $65k-$75k) and Research Associate II (roughly 3-5 years of relevant full-time experience; cash salary range: $80k-90k). This does not include equity compensation, which will be discussed during the interview process.

Kingdom additionally offers an excellent benefits package including:

• 100% fully-covered, best-in-class medical, vision, and dental insurance for yourself, and 90% for your spouse/family

• Unlimited paid time off (PTO), in addition to 18+ company-wide holidays (including the week off between December 24 - January 1)

• 12-weeks fully-paid, gender-neutral parental leave

• 401k retirement offering

• Commuter benefit options of subsidized Metrocards, free Citibike, free parking

• Office kitchen fully stocked with fruit, snacks, and beverages (including nitro cold brew coffee!)