Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager

San Francisco, CA - In-person, full time

Reports to CEO

About Hyfé:

Every year, approximately one billion tons of nutrient-rich fruit and vegetable byproducts are discarded or under-utilized across global food systems. For processors, getting rid of this waste is costly and emissions-intensive, creating significant environmental impact with little to no economic return. Yet these byproducts contain valuable compounds that could transform the economics of businesses across the food system and help catalyze the production of sustainable chemicals and materials. Hyfé exists to change that.

Hyfé transforms food waste into high-value ingredients using a label-friendly, thermochemical refining process. Our products range from bioactives to fibers, and are being commercialized to make the food we eat healthier for people and the planet. Our team of scientists and engineers brings decades of expertise from the oil refining and chemical industries, specializing in scaling industrial processes and pioneering sustainable solutions.

At Hyfé, you'll have the opportunity to build at the earliest stages of a mission-driven company—working alongside a world-class team, shaping real products, and helping define how the next generation of ingredients are made.

Our mission is simple: To transform carbon we waste into carbon we need.

Job Overview:

We are seeking a business development manager to drive our go-to-market execution and early revenue. This is a high-impact role for a commercially-minded person who thrives in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and has a proven ability to take novel products from zero to one. This is a role for a hunter.

You'll work closely with our CEO to build our early customer base, secure pilot and offtake agreements, and shape the commercial strategy that brings our first product lines to market. This role is central to demonstrating commercial traction, refining our value proposition, and helping Hyfé scale with focus and discipline.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and lead all business development and commercialization activities - you will hunt and push forward deals, and will support the CEO in closing.
• Build and progress pipeline through cold calling and leveraging your personal network to get introductions to potential customers.
• Identify, engage, develop early customers through pilot agreements, LOIs, initial sales, and offtake agreements.
• Serve as the internal owner of customer success by working with CEO and CTO to translate customer needs into clear technical, operational, and timeline deliverables.
• Draft scopes of work, own customer-facing business proposals, pitch.
• Lead customer discovery, market segmentation, and value proposition development, tracking progress via CRM dashboard and sales metrics.
• Coordinate pilot-scale production, customer sampling, and delivery, ensuring quality, documentation, and on-time execution.
• Ensure products meet regulatory, safety, and quality requirements required for customer evaluation and commercialization.
• Partner with the CEO to develop pricing, revenue models, and commercial forecasts based on validated customer demand.
• Review and edit contracts and enable the CEO to negotiate commercial terms efficiently.

Requirements:

• At least 3 years of sales or business development experience.
• Hands-on experience sourcing leads, cold outreach, and leveraging personal networks.
• Ability to translate technical product attributes into clear, credible customer value.
• Strong hustle and ownership mentality: persistent, proactive in follow-ups, and consistently pushing deals forward internally and externally.
• Clear, concise communicator with customers, internal teams, and external stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving startup environment with limited structure.
• You must embody startup temperament: proactive, highly communicative, resourceful, decisive, adaptable, kind, deeply mission-aligned, documenting is habit.
• Deep alignment with our values: Unity, Dependability, Momentum, Courage, Joy. This is the basis for every decision at Hyfé.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Strong working knowledge of pricing, contracts, budgets, and commercial metrics.
• Familiarity with food, biotech, or chemical regulatory and quality requirements.
• Experience with supply chains, manufacturing, or logistics in food, biotech, or chemical industries.
• Experience in business development at a series A or later venture-backed startup.
• Experience with challenger sales or value-based sales, ideal if ingredient sales or industrial sales.

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation, depending on experience ($100,000-$150,000 salary plus equity ownership in Hyfé), plus revenue based cash incentives
• 15 days PTO, paid holidays, and year-end office closure (pending business performance)
• 401(k) plan
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Short-term disability coverage
• In-office snacks & drinks
• Weekly and monthly team bonding
• Opportunity for rapid growth as the company scales

Hyfé is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.