Scientist I, Analytical Chemistry

About Voyage Foods

At Voyage Foods, our mission is to make delicious, sustainable, and accessible foods that are better for people and the planet. All of our products work together to support and sustain a food system designed for everyone, now and into the future. We're a team of food scientists, CPG experts, and professionals with a passion for making good food available for generations to come.

What do peanut butter, chocolate, and coffee have in common? They're some of our favorite foods but are often inaccessible and unsustainable. That's why we created our Nut-Free Spreads, Cocoa-Free Chocolate, and Bean-Free Coffee. From food allergies to climate change and unjust labor practices, the foods we love are in serious need of an upgrade. Our future-proofed foods are always top-9 allergen-free, vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, affordable, and most importantly, utterly delicious.

The role

We're hiring a Scientist I to own hands-on analytical work in our Oakland R&D lab. You'll run standard analytical analyses such as GC-MS, LC-MS, and GC-O, measure the physical properties of our products, and turn the results into clear answers for our product developers, flavor scientists, and plant team.

This is a bench role for a chemist or biochemist with 3–5 years of lab experience.

Responsibilities

Analytical chemistry (GC and LC)

- Run GC-MS analyses of food ingredients, intermediates, and finished products to build complete volatile and aroma profiles, from sample prep through compound identification and reporting.
- Select and optimize extraction and sample-introduction techniques (headspace, thermal desorption, solvent extraction) for new sample types, with guidance from senior staff on novel matrices.
- Adapt, develop, and validate quantitative GC and LC methods for target compounds, covering calibration, LOD/LOQ, recovery, and repeatability, and document each one as an SOP.
- Run LC and LC-MS analyses of non-volatile compounds such as acids, sugars, and phenolics.

Physical and compositional testing

- Measure rheology and particle size distribution
- Run routine compositional tests such as moisture and fat, and help improve methods that aren't yet precise enough for the decisions they support.

Lab practice and instrument care

- Follow and help maintain good laboratory practices: SOPs, calibration and QC checks, sample chain of custody, and complete notebook records.
- Check that methods are fit for purpose (repeatability, reproducibility, measurement capability) before their results drive product or process decisions. Help to develop new methods fit for intended measurements and matrices.
- Perform routine maintenance and first-line troubleshooting on GC-MS, LC, and physical-testing instruments, keep maintenance logs, and coordinate vendor service.
- Work with the lab team to manage analytical inventory (standards, columns, consumables) and lab systems.

Data and collaboration

- Analyze results with sound statistics and connect them to what they mean for the product: flavor, texture, shelf life, or process.
- Partner with product development, flavor, and sensory scientists to design experiments, and help build workflows that bring analytical data into benchtop development.
- Support scale-up and quality investigations, such as characterizing raw-material and lot-to-lot variability.
- Build reproducible data workflows that process instrument exports, compare samples, and link analytical results to sensory data.
- Propose new approaches and contribute to research projects; share findings in lab meetings and clear written reports.
- Train teammates on instruments and methods as the lab grows.

Required qualifications

Education and experience

- BS or MS in Chemistry, Biochemistry, or a closely related field.
- 3–5 years of hands-on lab experience, ideally in industry (food, flavor, beverage, consumer products, or similar). Relevant graduate research counts toward this.

Technical skills

- Strong bench skills: sample prep, extractions, standard and solution prep, and careful quantitative technique.
- Hands-on GC-MS experience, including method setup, calibration, data processing (Agilent MassHunter or similar), and compound identification against spectral libraries such as NIST.
- Hands-on LC experience.
- Working knowledge of good laboratory practices: SOPs, calibration records, data integrity, and documentation another scientist can follow.
- Routine instrument maintenance, such as liner and septum changes, column installation and trimming, source cleaning, and tuning.
- Sound experimental design and statistical analysis of results.

How you work

- Bias to action and a sense of urgency.
- Curiosity, with a habit of experimenting, exploring, and collaborating.
- A strong ethical base around data: you report what the data shows, including when it's inconvenient.
- You question assumptions, your own included.
- You take ownership of your work and its results.
- You're comfortable with ambiguity on a small team, and you explain technical results clearly to non-chemists.

Preferred qualifications

- GC sample introduction: thermal desorption, dynamic headspace, or SPME, ideally on a Gerstel MPS.
- Sensory links: GC-olfactometry or experience working with sensory panel data.
- LC-MS method development or quantitation.
- Data science tools: SQL and relational databases; structuring lab data for a shared dataset with consistent sample IDs, units, and run metadata; and a working understanding of how machine learning and multivariate models (such as PCA or PLS-DA) use analytical data.
- PLUS–Rheology: rotational rheometry on food systems, including flow curves, yield stress, and model fitting (Casson, Herschel-Bulkley).
- PLUS–Particle size analysis: laser diffraction or sieve analysis of powders, pastes, or suspensions.
- PLUS–FT-NIR: near-infrared spectroscopy for rapid compositional testing (moisture, fat, protein), including building and maintaining calibration models.
- Food or flavor chemistry: Maillard and roasting chemistry