The posting
About Food System Innovations
Food System Innovations (FSI) is a philanthropy that builds, funds, and invests in market-based solutions to accelerate the transition to sustainable proteins. By advancing innovation across plant-based, fermentation-derived, cell-cultivated, and balanced protein technologies, FSI works to improve performance, reduce costs, strengthen markets, and accelerate the adoption of more sustainable foods. FSI pursues this work in furtherance of its broader charitable and educational mission to develop and advance innovative solutions that benefit people, animals, and the food system.
Position Summary
The sustainable protein sector is undergoing a significant capital reset. Valuations have fallen, investor participation has contracted, and promising companies and technologies face financing constraints even as the underlying science and commercial opportunities continue to advance. FSI believes this creates an unusual opportunity for patient, mission-driven capital.
FSI is seeking an experienced investor to build and lead its catalytic investment function. The Vice President, Catalytic Capital will develop FSI’s investment strategy and pipeline; source, evaluate, structure, and execute investments; and manage FSI’s portfolio following close. The VP will bring deep principal-investing experience and judgment to identify opportunities where FSI’s capital can have an outsized catalytic effect, particularly where conventional capital is not well positioned to meet the financing need.
Unlike a traditional investment mandate, FSI can invest across a wide range of risk profiles, time horizons, and capital structures, including equity, debt, guarantees, recoverable grants, and other catalytic structures. The initial strategy will emphasize balanced proteins, advanced fermentation, and cultivated meat, with a broader mandate to identify and address capital constraints limiting the sustainable protein transition.
For an experienced investor, this is an opportunity to build an investment function within a philanthropic organization, combining rigorous investment discipline with the flexibility to pursue catalytic and mission-driven outcomes. The VP will draw on FSI’s capabilities across science, technology, markets, philanthropy, and finance to develop strong investment theses, challenge assumptions, and identify opportunities that conventional capital may overlook.
Key Responsibilities
Investment Strategy, Sourcing & Pipeline Development
- Refine FSI's investment theses across priority areas and translate them into a robust pipeline of companies, technologies, infrastructure projects, and other investment opportunities.
- Proactively source and cultivate high-quality investment opportunities through FSI's network and the VP's own relationships across the sustainable protein and investment ecosystems.
- Identify financing gaps where patient, flexible, or catalytic capital from FSI could unlock progress that conventional sources of capital are unlikely to finance.
- Develop portfolio-level perspectives on how FSI should allocate capital across technologies, stages, risk profiles, and financing structures.
Investment Diligence & Underwriting
- Lead comprehensive diligence and underwriting of potential FSI investments, including assessment of management teams, technologies, markets, business models, commercialization pathways, unit economics, capitalization, valuation, financing needs, and key risks.
- Develop and oversee financial models and scenario analyses, assessing expected financial performance, catalytic impact, additionality, and mission alignment.
- Work with FSI's scientific and technical experts to assess technology readiness, scale-up challenges, techno-economics, manufacturing feasibility, and pathways to cost competitiveness.
- Translate diligence into clear investment recommendations and rigorous investment memoranda for FSI leadership.
Investment Execution & Portfolio Management
- Lead the structuring, negotiation, and execution of FSI's mission-aligned investments, in coordination with FSI leadership, counsel, and external advisors.
- Design investment structures that appropriately balance financial risk and return, catalytic impact, additionality, and FSI's charitable objectives, including equity, debt, guarantees, recoverable grants, blended finance, and other structures where appropriate.
- Maintain relationships with portfolio company leadership and monitor financial performance, operating milestones, mission impact, financing needs, and emerging risks.
- Develop recommendations regarding follow-on investments, restructurings, exits, and other portfolio decisions, while maintaining rigorous documentation of FSI's investment and charitable rationale.
Organizational Leadership & External Leadership
- Work across FSI's scientific, market, philanthropic, and capital capabilities to inform investment strategy, diligence, and portfolio decisions.
- Collaborate closely with FSI's Capital Solutions function on opportunities requiring infrastructure finance, structured capital, blended finance, or other specialized approaches.
- Advise FSI leadership on when investment capital is the appropriate tool relative to grants, research, market interventions, or other philanthropic activities.
- Build and maintain relationships with founders, investors, corporate partners, scientists, advisors, and other senior stakeholders that strengthen FSI's sourcing, diligence, market intelligence, and portfolio support.
- Represent FSI externally and, where appropriate, share FSI's general research and ecosystem insights through public reports, presentations, convenings, and other educational resources consistent with FSI's charitable mission.
Requirements
We are looking for an accomplished principal investor who can build and lead a rigorous investment capability within FSI. The strongest candidates will have significant experience sourcing, underwriting, executing, and managing investments and will be excited to apply that expertise to deploying catalytic capital in furtherance of FSI's charitable mission.
The strongest candidates will bring:
- 10+ years of relevant investment experience, including significant principal investing experience in venture capital, growth equity, private equity, corporate venture, special situations, or related investment roles, with experience operating at the Principal, Partner, VP, or equivalent level.
- A demonstrated track record across the full investment lifecycle, including sourcing opportunities, developing investment theses, leading diligence and underwriting, building financial models, preparing investment memoranda, negotiating transactions, and managing investments following close.
- Strong financial and investment judgment, with deep capabilities across valuation, financial modeling, capitalization, unit economics, scenario analysis, and financing structures.
- Experience evaluating technology-driven businesses with significant commercialization, scale-up, financing, or execution risk, particularly at the early and growth stages.
- Exceptional analytical and communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex scientific, technical, commercial, and financial information into clear investment recommendations.
- The judgment and credibility to work effectively with founders, investors, scientists, corporate executives, philanthropists, and other senior stakeholders.
- High intellectual independence, including the ability to challenge assumptions, develop a well-supported point of view, and make decisions under uncertainty.
- An entrepreneurial, hands-on approach, with comfort operating in a small, mission-driven organization and personally owning work from investment strategy through detailed analysis and execution.
Preferred Experience
Direct investment or operating experience in the alternative protein ecosystem is strongly preferred. Particularly relevant experience includes:
- Investing in adjacent science- and capital-intensive sectors, such as food and agriculture, industrial biotechnology, fermentation, life sciences, climate technology, or advanced manufacturing.
- Evaluating technologies and businesses through commercialization and scale-up, including B2B models, complex enterprise sales cycles, manufacturing, and progression from pilot to commercial scale.
- Strong relationships across the alternative protein ecosystem, including founders, investors, scientists, strategic companies, and other industry participants.
- Experience with nontraditional and catalytic financing structures, including debt, structured capital, project finance, guarantees, blended finance, recoverable grants, special situations, or distressed transactions.
- Experience deploying patient, catalytic, or impact-oriented capital where financial performance, risk, additionality, and mission impact must be considered together.
Exceptional candidates from adjacent sectors should demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the alternative protein landscape and the technological, commercialization, and financing challenges shaping the sector.
What Success Looks Like
In the first 12–18 months, the VP, Catalytic Capital will have:
- Developed and implemented a clear investment strategy for deploying FSI’s catalytic capital across its priority areas.
- Built a strong investment pipeline and repeatable investment process, from sourcing and screening through underwriting, approval, execution, and portfolio management.
- Led rigorous diligence and deployed FSI capital into compelling, mission-aligned opportunities using structures appropriate to each investment.
- Established effective portfolio-management practices for monitoring financial performance, mission impact, key milestones, risks, and follow-on capital needs.
- Built strong relationships across the investment and sustainable protein ecosystems that strengthen FSI’s sourcing, diligence, market intelligence, and portfolio support.
- Demonstrated strong investment judgment, particularly in identifying opportunities where FSI’s capital is additional and can unlock progress unlikely to be financed by conventional capital.
- Built FSI into a disciplined, sophisticated catalytic investor capable of deploying capital effectively in furtherance of its charitable mission.
Benefits
FSI offers a competitive benefits package that includes full medical, vision, and dental coverage, a 401(k) plan, work phone and internet reimbursement, companion animal benefits, unlimited PTO, 11 paid holidays, paid sick leave, and flexible work hours.
Salary Range
The anticipated base salary range is $225,000–$275,000, based on location and experience.
Location
This is a remote position within the United States, with a preference for someone located in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Domestic travel and occasional international travel are expected.
Eligibility
The successful applicant should be legally able to work in the United States. We participate in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.
Equal Opportunity
FSI is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences.
Application
Interested candidates are invited to submit their resumes and cover letters through Workable. We appreciate all applicants' interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Application Deadline
FSI will accept applications until 5:00pm PST on Tuesday, October 13, 2026.
