Bio-Process Development Engineer/Scientist (M/F): Extraction & Scale-up Project Lead

At So Sweet, we are developing a new generation of plant-derived sweet and taste-modifying proteins. Our ambition is bold: help the food and beverage industry reduce sugar and calories while maintaining an outstanding taste experience, naturalness and product performance.

Our work sits at the intersection of plant extraction, protein science, food innovation and industrial process development. We are now entering a critical stage: advancing our technology from laboratory and micro‑pilot development towards a robust, scalable pilot process.

We are looking for an Extraction & Scale‑up Project Lead to join our R&D team and play a central role in this next phase of growth.

You will work on real and challenging process‑development topics, including biomass valorisation, plant extraction, process optimisation, purification strategy, scale‑up and food‑grade sample production. Depending on your experience, you may progressively take ownership — or immediately lead — projects from experimental design and laboratory execution through pilot trials and coordination with scientific and industrial partners.

Responsibilities

• Developing and optimising extraction steps for plant‑derived proteins
• Contributing to the design and improvement of the overall extraction‑purification process
• Designing and running laboratory, micro‑pilot and partner‑site trials
• Improving yield, quality, robustness, sustainability and cost performance
• Supporting scale‑up, pilot implementation and technology‑transfer activities
• Producing food‑grade samples for prospective customers
• Performing and coordinating routine analytical work, including HPLC‑UV and external laboratory analyses
• Interpreting technical data and turning results into clear development recommendations
• Contributing to process documentation, regulatory readiness and intellectual‑property development
• Working closely with Food Science colleagues to develop ingredient formats and applications for future customers

We are open to profiles ranging from strong early‑career scientists and engineers to more experienced researchers and process‑development professionals. You may hold an MSc, engineering degree or PhD in biotechnology, chemical engineering, bioprocessing, food technology, agronomy, separation processes, chemistry or a related discipline.

Experience or a strong interest in plant proteins, biomass valorisation, extraction of molecules of interest, food‑grade process development, process optimisation, analytical methods or pilot‑scale development will be highly valued.

We are looking for people who are curious, rigorous, practical and motivated by hands‑on innovation. You should be comfortable working in an agile startup environment, where priorities evolve quickly, experiments do not always give straightforward answers, and good ideas can rapidly become real process improvements. Professional English is required.

Joining So Sweet means joining a small, ambitious and multicultural team where your work will have visible impact from day one. You will collaborate closely with our R&D Director, DSP Project Lead and external scientific and technical partners while helping solve the real scale‑up challenges that determine whether breakthrough ideas become commercially viable sweet and taste‑modifying proteins for the F&B industry.

This is a permanent role based near Amiens, with occasional travel within France. Salary and overall compensation package will be determined according to experience level, technical expertise and the responsibilities assigned to the role.

If you want to help build a technology platform from the ground up, work on meaningful food innovation and grow with a fast‑moving startup, we would be delighted to hear from you.