(Sr.) Associate - Talent & Venture Development (gn) @ FoodLabs Core Team, Berlin

Early-Stage Venture Capital & Talent

At FoodLabs, we discover the best food, health, and sustainability companies before they become category leaders - and we give them every advantage to get there. We believe capital is just one part of the journey. Every day, we deliver transformational support to our founders on the topics that shape a company's trajectory most: Product, People, and Commercial Growth.

A key part of that mission is talent. We don't just advise founders on hiring - we actively hunt for exceptional people, whether that's a future CTO, a Head of Growth, or a founder who doesn't yet know they're one. Operating across the intersection of venture capital and venture building, we recognize great talent before others do, and we bring that talent into our ecosystem.

Why we are looking for you now

We just closed a new fund, our portfolio has grown to over 80 companies across the world - including HOLY, LAP, MicroHarvest, Voltrac, Reformed, and Evanium - and our venture studio is busier than ever, spinning up new ventures at pace. That growth means one thing: we need more exceptional people, faster. Talent is more scarce than money in today's VC climate. Promising startup ideas are often replicable. People are not. Together with you, we will:

• Hunt and win exceptional talent for our portfolio companies - proactively sourcing, approaching, and converting high-caliber candidates across functions and seniority levels, from engineering leads to C-suite hires

• Work directly with our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, Founders, Studio, and Investment Teams to find the best future founders - from biotech scientists to D2C marketing experts to deep-tech engineers

• Expand our knowledge base with insights ranging from expansion models, process templates, ESOP guidelines, performance management, tech recruiting hacks, compensation practices, to employer branding

• Zoom in and out: Take a talent-focused but holistic approach supporting founders across the whole venture-building journey. With strong business understanding, you translate business plans into people and talent strategy - and step in directly on urgent, critical tasks when needed

• Set the standard for AI and automation in venture development - building the tools, workflows, and playbooks that make this function faster, sharper, and scalable

Your role: Talent is your superpower

You'll join FoodLabs' Venture Development function, embedded in our venture studio, working at the heart of where new companies are born. Talent acquisition will be a major part of your work - identifying, approaching, and closing outstanding candidates for our portfolio companies and studio ventures. But this role goes far beyond hiring. You'll work directly with our investment teams and founders to build the organizations their business cases demand - from growth to cost-cutting, from first hires to scaling teams. You own the full picture: if it affects how a company is built and run, it's your problem to solve. This is not a support function. You take ownership, you make decisions, and you deliver results that shape the trajectory of companies. You will design and lead your own projects, taking on the most urgent, mission-critical work across our portfolio.

Who you will work with

• You will collaborate and host projects with our Studio and Investment teams

• You will work daily at eye level with Founders and their leadership teams, from pre-seed to exit

• You will expand our ecosystem of venture development partnerships from the best recruitment partners to employment lawyers

What you need to succeed

• Talent Hunting Instinct: You identify excellence - the top 1% of talent, the future founders, the crazy researchers nobody else has on their radar yet. But you don't stop at hiring them - you hustle and operate alongside them to build something real. This role lives at the intersection of talent, strategy, and venture capital. If you're looking for a standard recruiting gig, this isn't it.

• Venture Building Expertise: You gained experience in a high-performing startup environment, learning first-hand what it takes to build and grow an organization successfully.

• Curiosity & Ambition: The learning curve will be steep. You need an absolute thirst for knowledge, operational excellence, and the grit to work toward long-term goals.

• Self-Management & Project Management: You've proven yourself in a demanding, fast-paced environment and are used to engaging with decision-makers. You act with empathy and integrity and back your decisions with data.

• Drive for Excellence: Outstanding track record in your field. Bachelor's or Master's degree, preferably in Business, Marketing, Finance, BioTech, or Engineering.

• Problem-Solving Mindset: Excellent analytical abilities to tackle conceptual and strategic topics at speed.

• Communication: Fluency in English is required. German knowledge is a plus.