Business Development Manager, Functional Ingredients

Plantible; Vista (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401k Program

Relocation support

Unlimited PTO

Paid holidays

Career development

Job summary

Plantible is hiring a commercial-focused role in the US to own named accounts, drive revenue, and lead value-driven engagements with confectionery, bakery, and condiment customers. You will negotiate terms, report weekly results, and shape product development to meet client needs.

With a technical background in functional ingredients and a track record in early-stage growth, you will operate without a marketing team, directly influencing sales strategy and deployment in a rapidly growing,

Qualifications

• Experience selling functional ingredients into confectionery, bakery or condiments.
• Carried a quota in an early-stage ingredient business and grew revenue to scale (0→$50M).
• Technical degree in food science or related field, or equivalent lab/plant fluency.

Responsibilities

• Own a named account list, prospect, qualify, close and drive revenue.
• Negotiate pricing, volume commitments and development agreements; carry and report a weekly number.
• Translate customer formulation and process needs into action; direct trials and assess outcomes.

Skills

Functional ingredients

Quota carrying

Sales experience

Customer relationships

Food science knowledge

Education

Food science degree

Chemical engineering degree

Job description

Kindly be advised that we are handling the recruitment for this position internally and are not partnering with external recruiters.

We Are a Biology Company

Plantible, backed by Astanor Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Piva Capital, Kellogg’s, and Vectr Ventures, is a vertically integrated biology company that is unlocking the power in plants in service of people & planet. Our mission is to create solutions that empower customers to make sustainable and regenerative choices without compromising on quality. We are beginning with the food industry. Please visit our website to learn more about our mission and continued success: https://www.plantiblefoods.com/

How You Will Contribute

This is a standalone commercial role, not a technical support function. You will own a named account list and carry the number on it, reporting to the Head of Commercial Development. Our R&D team runs the bench; you decide what gets run, why it gets run, and what the results mean for the customer and the business.

What You Will Be Working On

Sell

• Own a named account list. Prospect, qualify, close, reorder.
• Carry a number and report against it weekly.
• Negotiate pricing, volume commitments and development agreements.

Translate Value

• Map the customer formulation, process constraints and current ingredient cost stack.
• Specify and direct application trials. Internal and customer R&D execute; you set the hypothesis, read the result, and decide the next iteration.
• Quantify customer benefit: cost-in-use, functional replacement ratio, label and claim impact, process and yield benefit.
• Hold your own in a customer pilot plant. You do not need to run the trial. You need to know when the answer you are given is wrong.

Innovate to Drive Change

• BD Innovation: Ingredient qualification is slow by convention, not by physics. Find the conventions that do not apply to us and remove them.
• Product Innovation: Feed customer requirements back into product development and specification.

What You Bring To Plantible

• Sold functional ingredients into confectionery, bakery or condiments, and personally closed the deals you claim.
• 5+ years with functional ingredients. Proteins, hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, enzymes or starches. Command of gelation, aeration, emulsification, water binding and heat stability in real systems.
• Carried a quota in an early-stage ingredient business and grown a book from early revenue toward scale. Zero to $50M is the shape, not the threshold.
• Operated without infrastructure. No marketing team, no sales ops, no brand doing the work for you.
• Technical degree in food science, chemical engineering or equivalent, or equivalent fluency built in a lab or plant.

Preferred

• Hands‑on product development: bench, pilot, sensory, shelf life, scale‑up, spec, QA, regulatory. You know where a formulation breaks and why.
• Replaced an incumbent functional ingredient in a live commercial application and held the spec through scale‑up. Egg, dairy protein, hydrocolloid or emulsifier.
• Took a novel ingredient through full customer qualification, including regulatory and supply‑continuity objections.
• Founder or early commercial hire at a startup selling a physical product to industrial buyers.
• Standing relationships with R&D or procurement at major confectionery, bakery, condiment or CPG accounts.

Choose Plantible Foods

Joining Plantible means contributing to a sustainable future for all. We are a venture backed startup that is both spreading happiness amongst our employees and to current and future generations. We believe diversity creates uniqueness. Our team is composed of highly talented people with different interests and hobbies, which makes for a rich working environment.

At Plantible we are continually working on our offerings to foster the best team. Check it out!

• Competitive health and wellness benefits
• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Discretionary Unlimited PTO Program
• Paid Holidays
• 401k Program
• Career Stipend
• Career development and growth opportunities
• Working in a rapidly growing, flexible and entrepreneurial environment
• Team building and company-wide events
• Financial support with your relocation, if necessary, ensuring a smooth transition
• And of course, lots of beautiful land for outdoor activities!

Plantible Foods is an equal employment opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, ancestry, veteran status, marital status, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, liability for military service, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. If you are interested in learning the status of your application, please note you will be contacted directly by the appropriate human resources contact person if you are selected for further consideration. Plantible Foods reserves the right to defer or close a vacancy at any time.

The Pay Range For This Role Is

130,000 - 140,000 USD per year(US)