Our mission at Harvest B

During the Sydney Autumn of 2020, my cofounders and I came together to define a future where alternative proteins would play a central role in reinventing the food system for our next generation. Whilst there had been success in early plant-based meat brands bringing a wide range of products to market, we are just at the beginning of the climb. Taste & texture, plant & protein sources, nutrition and less processing, affordability and ease of use — just a few challenges to overcome.

The company we founded was Harvest B, a food technology business that is building the next generation of plant-based meat systems aimed at helping companies make great plant-based food.

Since closing our seed round in June last year, we’ve been working hard to bring to market our first commercial products and our pilot facility will be online by next quarter.

As we’ve reached these milestones, we’re entering a new phase to expand the team with the next month alone will increase our headcount by 50%. One of the roles we’re bringing on is a Business Operations (BizOps) Associate.

How we think about BizOps

As Harvest B’s BizOps Associate, you’ll work on multiple high-impact projects at a time, working cross functionally with department executives to solve the company’s most existential problems. Strategy & BizOps is constantly shaping the strategy of the company across all key functions, and there’s not other job that gets the strategic insights yet is roll your sleeves up hands on as this one.

The work itself is highly engaging, allowing individuals to build and grow the company from the ground up. Personally I think it’s one of the best opportunities for career growth, particularly if you see yourself being a founder or moving into venture capital down the track.

BizOps team members are naturally curious and driven by solving problems, you’ll be frequently placed on projects and tasked with solving a myriad of different problems facing the business, from launching new marketing campaigns to ensuring performance measures are setup to coordinating with product managers to setting up procurement systems.

Project-based work

The nature of this role is similar to that of an internal strategy consultant.

You’ll be parachuting into some of the most pressing problems facing the company — taking on problems that individual functions might not be able to handle themselves. You’ll be focused on helping build and establish new teams, products and processes but as we grow, you’ll be more focused on optimising existing business lines and scoping out new growth opportunities such as entering new markets.

Length of projects

The length of these projects varies from anywhere between a couple of weeks to 9-month engagements, depending on the scope of the task and the number of cross-functional stakeholders. A shorter project that would take a couple weeks could involve scoping out the opportunity of expanding into new customer segments. A longer, more cross-functional project that would take many months could involve working with product, product marketing managers, finance and the sales team to launch a pricing change.

Cross-functional in nature

The beauty of the role is that in many of these projects you’ll be working with a wide variety of stakeholders across the organisation, giving you valuable insights and learnings on how to effectuate change across an organisation. On the other hand, colleagues in more siloed positions, such as R&D scientists or sales representatives, won’t get this type of exposure, since they largely work within their teams.

Driving impact

Ultimately, the most attractive part of this role is the ability to drive meaningful impact and change across an organisation. Members of Strategy & BizOps are expected to take full ownership of initiatives — from inception to execution and then to iteration. Being so hands on in the process of building something from the ground up is what makes the job so much more rewarding when a job is well-executed.

What we’re looking for

• Both a systems thinker and a “doer”: you’re a strategic thinker who can go deep on a business and understand its core drivers; you’re also biased to action and know that the true test of an idea comes when we try it out in the real world.
• Quantitative and data driven: you’re eager and able to drive insights to the business using data. You’re experienced in designing analyses to prove or disprove hypotheses, and you look to data not only for the “what” (“what’s happening in our business?”) but the “so what” (“why does this matter and what is it telling us about potential next steps?”). Equally important: you understand that “data” doesn’t always exist in a spreadsheet, and you’re excited to talk to customers and get on the ground to understand how different markets work.
• A creative problem solver: You have a proven track record of thinking “outside the box” to solve complicated and multi-faceted problems. You think top-down, bottoms-up and from multiple angles to make sure we’re being exhaustive in the way we evaluate our business.
• Highly collaborative: You’re excited about working across all levels and functions within the organisation: with our leadership team, our product, R&D and engineering teams. You’re a strong communicator with the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams.
• Customer-first: You care about our customers, and you understand that we exist, first and foremost, to serve a customer need. Helping create the next generation of plant-based meat food system is not simple. You’re mindful of that in everything that you and the team do.
• Hungry and energetic: You’re determined to hit ambitious goals and can rally a team and our organisation behind them. You are not above or below any task. You want to build momentum for your initiatives and the team. You’re self-reliant, and can get things done in the chaos that is an early-stage startup scaling quickly.
• Extreme Curiosity: You ask “why” 3–5 times in a row for the same problem, digging and digging and not being satisfied until you truly understand the root cause.
• Flexibility: You are okay wearing many different hats and going where the leadership team needs you the most. You want to work in a fast-paced environment with constant change.
• Experience: 2+ years of experience in startups, strategy, consulting, business development, operations, technology, banking, analytics or related experience; high-growth or early-stage start-up experience

What’s in it for you

• Location Location Location: You’ll be based predominantly at our new Head Office and Kitchen Lab right in the heart of the Sydney tech ecosystem Surry Hills, with the occasional visit to our pilot facility in Penrith.
• Ownership In Us: Employees at Harvest B own equity in the company through our employee share option plan. Sharing in the success of the company is something that’s very important to us.
• Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast: Whilst our values are at our core (Do What Matters, Fuel Your Curiosity, Drive Towards Outcomes, Be a Thoughtful Human), if you’re looking for a place where you can shape the culture, we’re small enough that every new team member plays an influential part in this.
• A Cornucopia To Learn From: Work alongside A1 operators from a broad cross section of industries who have worked at innovative and technical organisations including Startmate, Astra Zeneca, WeWork, Cicada Innovations, GLG, Berger Ingredients, Singtel Innov8, Oliver Wyman, UNSW and Infrabuild.
• Flexible Working Rhythms: As we come out of COVID work patterns and building so much of this business through Zoom calls, we know how great it is to be flexible with where and when you work.
• Doesn’t Matter Where You Are: If you‘re the right person for the job, we’ll support your relocation to Sydney.
• You Won’t Go Hungry: Whether you fancy your sensory capabilities or not, there will be ample opportunities to taste test new food products using our meat system.

How to Apply

If you felt excited by reading this job description, then we encourage you to apply even if you don’t tick all these boxes. Don’t underestimate the power of demonstrating a keen motivation to learn & contribute to our mission. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you — send your CV and cover letter through to us at hr@harvestb.io.