Quality Engineer

Upside Foods, Inc.; Emeryville (CA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

UPSIDE Foods, based in Emeryville, California, is seeking a Quality Engineer to define and enforce our food safety and quality systems as we scale cultivated meat. You will drive improvements in food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, sanitation, and documentation, partnering with FSQA lab, plant testing, HACCP, and Preventive Controls.

This role requires 5+ years in food manufacturing, leadership, and a technical background to translate evidence into action, with opportunities to influence

Qualifications

• Experience leading food safety and quality systems across manufacturing.
• Ability to set clear performance expectations for testing and HACCP/HARPC.
• Experience implementing GFSI programs and audits.
• Strong collaboration with suppliers and customers.
• Technical background with evidence-to-action ability.
• Excellent people and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement FSQA systems for cultivated meat manufacturing.
• Lead plant testing, audits, GMP compliance, and final release.
• Coordinate with R&D and Regulatory on FSQA programs.
• Support third-party certifications and label approvals.
• Guide FSQA team towards delivering results for internal and external customers.
• Support supplier quality program and FDA/USDA relationships.

Skills

5+ years exp

FSQA management

HACCP & HARPC

GFSI programs

Regulatory liaison

Root cause analysis

Supplier management

Continuous improvement

Job description

About this position

UPSIDE Foods is the world's leading cultivated meat company. We’re building a new food system that moves meat forward by rethinking it from the source. By growing real meat from animal cells, we give people the choice to enjoy the meat they love without killing animals. Our work directly addresses the environmental and ethical impacts of the modern food system while supporting global food and nutrition security. It’s a vision legendary conservationist Jane Goodall called "one of the biggest ideas offering planetary hope."

Based in Emeryville, California, UPSIDE Foods has achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including making the first cultivated meat to be green-lit by both the FDA and the USDA and sold in the United States. Our team has won numerous industry awards, including TIME World’s Top GreenTech Companies 2026, New York Times’ Good Tech Awards, FastCo’s Next Big Thing in Tech, and the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.

To date, UPSIDE Foods has raised more than $600 million in funding from a diverse group of leading U.S. and global investors, including Cargill, SoftBank, Temasek, Tyson and Whole Foods.

About the role:

The Quality Engineer plays a key role in defining, establishing, and enforcing the food safety and quality systems that will shape how cultivated meat is produced, processed, and packaged as we scale.

You will make sure the right quality and food safety methods are built into plant goals across the FSQA lab, plant testing, and HACCP and Preventive Controls monitoring, taking both a long- and short-term view as products, processes, and company priorities develop. You will drive continuous improvement in food safety, quality, regulatory, sanitation, and corporate standards, and take part in the innovation process so that quality and food safety risk analysis is complete and compliance documentation is validated.

Much of what you build will set precedent for scaled cultivated meat. We want someone eager to take on new challenges, not afraid to fail, and willing to name mistakes and learn from them.

What you'll do:

Food Safety and Quality Systems

• Help implement and execute the Food Safety & Quality Management System that underpins cultivated meat manufacturing, spanning both FDA and USDA operations.
• Act as the subject matter expert for food safety and quality, including day-to-day issues at the plant, for both FDA operations and daily USDA inspections.
• Own EMP testing, pre-op startup, in-process sample and testing, internal audits, GMP compliance and final release process.

Lab, Testing, and Compliance Programs

• Partner with R&D and Regulatory on the programs FSQA owns: analytical 3rd party day-to-day oversight of testing in the plant Food Safety and HACCP plans
• Support third-party certifications such as kosher, organic, and halal, label applications, and compliance with customer quality and food safety programs
• Guide FSQA team members toward results that serve internal and external customers and meet corporate goals

Supplier and Regulatory Support

• Support the supplier quality program, including document review, auditing, and trials
• Support FDA and USDA relationships, including inspections, post-market compliance plans, adverse event reporting, and label approval
• Help develop and carry out regulatory strategy for the plant's food safety and quality programs

Qualifications :

Required

• 5+ years of experience in food manufacturing
• Experience managing food safety, quality systems, and technical services functions, with strong people skills
• Ability to set clear, challenging performance expectations for analytical testing, microbiological performance, and FSMA, HACCP, and HARPC programs
• Experience developing or implementing GFSI programs, including lab validation, supplier management, sanitation and pre-op, internal and external auditing, CAPA and root cause analysis, document control, crisis management, customer complaints, environmental monitoring, food defense, food fraud, and allergen management
• Working knowledge of continuous improvement, and the ability to collaborate effectively with leadership at suppliers and customers
• A deeply technical background, and the ability to translate evidence into action
• A collaborative nature: you work well independently and with others, and help build a healthy team environment

Preferred

• PCQI certification

Compensation Range: $95,000 - 110,000

*Pay may vary depending on factors including job-related knowledge and skills.

*UPSIDE Foods is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Our company-wide mission is to create a product for everyone, so we are deeply committed to having teams and leaders that reflect this mission.

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