What are we up to? We’re developing chocolate without cacao.

Why? Because the way most of the world’s cacao is produced and processed at the moment is unethical and environmentally f*cked.

It involves child labour and slave labour; and lots of it. And great swathes of land are being deforested to grow cacao for chocolate-eaters, and producing 1kg of cacao beans produces around the same greenhouse gas emissions as 1kg of cheese or lamb meat.

We’ve come up with a way of making an alternative to chocolate—that tastes, melts, grates, snaps the same—but can be made in a way that avoids these problems.

We are launching a consumer brand for our products and will also sell our products as ingredients to existing chocolate producers.

How? Using whole ingredients and fermentation smarts. It’s what we call “very clever cooking”: a mix of traditional techniques with some cutting-edge know-how.

Why do we need your help? We are building out our team to develop and perfect our products.

We are looking for a New Product Development Specialist to help us to test our products and develop new products. Is that you?

What you’ll do:

– Work under our head of R&D, and alongside her team of 5, to create, improve and expand our range of cocoa-free chocolate formulations and products.

– Create and develop new products from concept to launch including running trials and leading the scale up with our co-manufacturing site.

– Test our cocoa-free chocolate in various applications e.g. make sure it works in recipes for pain au chocolat or chocolate cake or chocolate ice cream

– Make batches of our cocoa-free chocolate and other confectionery products

– Prototype products in a quick, iterative fashion.

– Weigh out lots of things, taste lots of things, and make detailed notes about everything you do!

Who are you? More than anything we want to find great people to work with. If the above resonates and sounds interesting to you, then get in touch.

However, in an ideal world you—our perfect person—would:

– Be educated to a degree level, ideally a BSc/MSc food science or similar subject

– Have 3-5 years experience working in a new product development role, i.e. you would have spent lots of time developing new food products, testing recipes, helping your team to bring products to market, and overseeing a highly iterative design/creative process to get there

– Have experience of working with chocolate

– Have experience in process manufacturing; Ideally in confectionary / chocolate production

– Be willing to get your hands dirty; Literally, covered in chocolate, sometimes but also willing to apply yourself to new problems that you might not have faced before

– A nice to have would be someone who has experience in a kitchen as a chef or pastry chef.

You should also:

-Love the taste of chocolate!

– Be able to work in the UK, specifically at our HQ in London

– Most other things are negotiable but these two—unfortunately—are not!

What we’ll give you in return:– A competitive salary, because money makes the world go round

– Lots of freedom, autonomy and responsibility – Flexible working hours – Opportunities for professional development

– The chance to work with like-minded, fun people who have lots of great ideas and dreams

– The chance to be one of the first employees in a quickly growing, exciting company

Our take on diversity: Win-Win for everyone. We’re an equal-opportunity employer.We will consider all applications equally regardless of a person’s race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or gender identity.Moreover, we actively encourage individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in the food and food tech space to apply.

Let’s fight climate change and inequality together.

How to apply: If the above sounds like you, then apply! What are you waiting for?

Drop us an email at hello@wnwnfoodlabs.com with a (thoughtful) cover letter or 1-min video and your CV. Non-traditional CVs welcome.