Technical Business Development Manager

Location: Austin, TX, USA (Posted on Sep 3, 2026)

About Plantible Foods

Plantible, backed by Astanor Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Piva Capital, Kellogg’s, and Vectr Ventures, is a vertically integrated biology company unlocking the power in plants to serve people and the planet. Our mission is to create solutions that empower customers to make sustainable and regenerative choices without compromising on quality, beginning with the food industry.

Responsibilities

• Own a named account list, prospect, qualify, close, and reorder, reporting weekly against a quota.
• Negotiate pricing, volume commitments, and development agreements.
• Translate value by mapping customer formulation, process constraints, and current ingredient cost stack.
• Specify and direct application trials; set hypotheses, interpret results, and decide next iterations.
• Quantify customer benefit: cost‑in‑use, functional replacement ratio, label and claim impact, process and yield benefit.
• Hold ownership in a customer pilot plant, ensuring trial results are accurate.
• Drive innovation in business development by removing conventional bottlenecks in ingredient qualification.
• Feed customer requirements back into product development and specification.

Requirements

• 5+ years selling functional ingredients (proteins, hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, enzymes, or starches) into confectionery, bakery, or condiment categories, with a track record of closing deals.
• Deep technical knowledge of gelation, aeration, emulsification, water binding, and heat stability in real systems.
• Experience carrying a quota in an early‑stage ingredient business and growing a book from early revenue toward scale (zero to $50 M range).
• Ability to operate without dedicated marketing, sales‑ops, or brand support.
• Technical degree in food science, chemical engineering, or equivalent, or comparable lab/plant fluency.
• Hands‑on product development experience (bench, pilot, sensory, shelf life, scale‑up, specification, QA, regulatory).
• Proven success replacing an incumbent functional ingredient in a live commercial application and maintaining the specification through scale‑up.
• Experience taking a novel ingredient through full customer qualification, including regulatory and supply‑continuity challenges.
• Background as a founder or early commercial hire at a startup selling physical products to industrial buyers.
• Established relationships with R&D or procurement at major confectionery, bakery, condiment, or CPG accounts.

Benefits

• Competitive health and wellness benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Discretionary unlimited PTO program and paid holidays.
• 401(k) program.
• Career stipend and development opportunities.
• Rapidly growing, flexible, entrepreneurial environment.
• Team‑building and company‑wide events.
• Financial support for relocation if necessary.
• Access to outdoor land for recreational activities.