Chief Executive Officer

Job description

Lead the organization that is changing how meat is made

The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is part of an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals.

GFI works in the most critical economies and regions for alternative protein advancement, with 115 team members in the U.S., and another 125 team members working across affiliates in Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, India, Israel, and Japan. Within the United States, we are a primarily remote workforce, with a Policy and Government Relations office in Washington D.C. GFI’s impact across seven global organizations is funded by donors from all walks of life: from people making monthly gifts to large grantmaking foundations. We are a top-recommended charity by evaluators such as Founders Pledge, Giving Green, and Charity Navigator. Some of our largest donors include individual philanthropists and foundations including Open Philanthropy and the Bezos Earth Fund.

How you will make a difference

You will lead all aspects of the Good Food Institute in the United States, in close collaboration with the U.S. Leadership Team, and in coordination and partnership with the President and Regional Leadership of GFI affiliates around the globe (APAC, Brazil, Europe, India, Israel, and Japan). The Chief Executive Officer will be responsible for:

Strategic leadership & organizational oversight

• Overseeing the work of GFI in the U.S., including leading on organizational strategy and culture, and setting the U.S. organizational budget.
• Hiring, training, directly supervising, mentoring, and coaching Leadership Team members (General Counsel, Vice Presidents, and Senior Vice Presidents).
• Collaborating with the U.S. Leadership Team, the Regional Leadership Group, and the President and Founder to build, refine, and execute GFI’s strategic plan, with a focus on achieving priorities and goals, and managing the organization’s capacity and resources.
• Ensuring the delivery of high-quality, mission-aligned, and impactful work while managing for current and future growth.

Global collaboration & affiliate engagement

• Partnering with the President and Founder and key leaders across GFI’s global affiliates to identify and execute on opportunities for collaboration to maximize mission impact in alignment with the strategic plan.
• Ensuring delivery of mutually agreed commitments in line with signed affiliate agreements.
• Overseeing the global budget, including advising independent affiliates on strategic considerations.

Culture & people

• Leading by example, demonstrating the highest ethical standards, ensuring the organization operates in compliance with all laws, creating a vision of success, and motivating and inspiring the team to stay nimble and focused in achieving GFI’s mission and vision.
• Promoting a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and strong employee engagement that values kindness and care, equity, trust, accountability, and collaboration, in which all employees have an opportunity to be heard and feel like they belong.
• Fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation to ensure GFI remains at the forefront of advancing alternative proteins and systems change.
• Ensuring that robust systems for monitoring, evaluation, and learning are in place to track progress toward strategic priorities and impact goals.

Financial stewardship, risk management, & governance

• Setting financial priorities and ensuring that an appropriate system of policies, internal controls, and procedures is in place to support programmatic needs and employees.
• Working with the General Counsel, VP of Operations, and global leadership to assess and address sources of potential organizational risk.
• Reporting to the U.S. Board of Directors, providing timely and transparent updates and supporting effective governance and decision-making.

External relations & mission advocacy

• Representing GFI with national media, NGOs, policymakers, and other external stakeholders to advance the organization’s mission and vision.
• Engaging donors to support GFI’s mission impact as part of our development efforts.
• Supporting leadership in effectively deploying GFI’s President and Founder for external-facing engagements including fundraising, communications, and other strategic capacities.

Additional responsibilities: performing other duties as prioritized.

Who we’re looking for

An ideal candidate for the Chief Executive Officer position will have experience that reflects the following:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in leadership positions with at least 5 years in executive management; experience leading a nonprofit strongly preferred.
• Experience and comfort successfully running a complex organization and being accountable for annual and multi-year strategic development and execution.
• Experience overseeing a project or organization with multiple business operating units, with annual revenue greater than $20 million.
• Demonstrated success in building and coaching teams and guiding, developing, and retaining leaders in a culture that values autonomy.
• Outcomes-focused mentality with a track record of delivering desired results.
• Cross-cultural competency: an ability to understand and effectively communicate with global team members, partners, and stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds.
• An optimistic, solution-oriented, and collaborative spirit with a start-up mentality, flexibility, resilience, open-mindedness, and a sense of humor.
• A commitment to equity, trust, accountability, and collaboration and to building an inclusive workplace where everyone feels like they can be themselves and belong.
• Comfort working remotely and in a rapidly growing and evolving organization.
• Strong support for GFI’s philosophy and mission; demonstrated interest in plant-based & other alternative proteins, public health, environmentalism, climate change, animal protection, or hunger relief.
• A commitment to GFI’s values: believe change is possible, do the most good we can, share knowledge freely, act on evidence, and invite everyone to the table.

We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We use a third-party anonymizing tool to redact personal information from submitted applications — including name, location, contact details, and several other factors — to reduce bias and increase fairness in our process. We strongly encourage people of every race, color, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. Since we value a diverse workplace, we prioritize an inclusive climate absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

Research indicates that men tend to apply for jobs when they meet just 60% of the criteria, while women and people from other marginalized groups only apply if they are a 100% match. If you are passionate about GFI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even if you don’t check all the boxes, please apply. We’d appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

To learn more about GFI and this role, we encourage you to review the CEO Job Brochure and our website.

The fine print

• Terms of employment: Full-time, exempt
• Reports to: Board of GFI
• Direct reports: Jessica Almy, Senior VP of Policy and Government Relations; Chethana Biliyar, VP of Operations; Caroline Bushnell, Senior VP of Corporate Engagement; Sarah David, General Counsel; Susan Halteman, Senior VP of Development; Amanda Hildebrand, VP of Science and Technology; Rachel Lichte, VP of Impact; and Sheila Voss, Senior VP of Communications.
• Location: Remote; United States Travel: 10% or more travel time expected for activities such as organizational retreats, fundraising, and external engagement; reasonable accommodations or exemptions from retreats will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Benefits: Working from home; paid employee base medical coverage; dental, vision, and other medical insurance options; a 401(k) plan with employer match; 14 paid holidays; personal, sick, and vacation time; paid family/parental and medical leave; lifestyle spending account; and, respectful and collaborative culture. More information: https://tinyurl.com/GFIBenefits.
• This is a U.S.-based position: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work for any employer in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. At this time, GFI’s policy is not to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas.
• Salary: $238,096.04-$250,000.92 (depending on experience and qualifications)

Important dates

Application deadline: May 28, 2025

Anticipated start date: On or around July 14, 2025

Decided not to apply? If after reviewing this job description, you have decided not to apply, please let us know why by completing this short survey: https://tinyurl.com/GFIJobSurvey

Interested in working at the Good Food Institute? Join us for the Career Opportunities Webinar to learn more about our work and ask questions about specific job opportunities! See upcoming webinar dates and more information at https://tinyurl.com/GFICareers

Application instructions

GFI uses an anonymized hiring system that redacts key identifying personal information from all applications. We use this tool as part of a wider effort to reduce bias in our hiring process. Following these instructions will help to ensure your application is not delayed by a failed redaction.

• Where possible, limit the creative formatting of your documents. If the name on your resume is an inserted image file or is styled with large spaces between each letter, for example, the redaction is likely to fail. Colors and designs are OK, but wherever possible, the text itself should just be regular text.
• Please use consistent names. It helps to ensure that the name you use in your resume and cover letter is the same as the name you type into the application below. For example, if your name is Jennifer, please sign your cover letter as “Jennifer” rather than “Jenny.”
• Submit PDF or .docx files only. Other file formats, like .txt, are likely to fail redaction.
• Please do not include personal identifying information in your responses to the application questions. Referencing past education, work experience, and mission-alignment is OK.
• Please do not contact the role’s supervisor or any potential member of the hiring team. If you have questions, please email [email protected].

Thank you for helping us to ensure that the redaction process works smoothly and to review your application as quickly as possible!