Head of Commercial

Hyfé•San Francisco, CA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

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 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. We are seeking a Head of Commercial to lead our go-to-market execution and drive early revenue. This is a high-impact role for a commercially-minded leader who thrives in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and has a proven ability to take novel products from zero to one. You’ll work closely with the 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.

Requirements

5+ years of B2B commercialization experience (sales, partnerships, GTM), selling bioactives, fiber, or adjacent technical ingredients.
Experience leading business development at a series A or later venture-backed startup.
Proven sales and business development record (securing pilot agreements, LOIs, sales, or offtake deals in novel product categories). a.k.a show us how you’ve sold and closed deals in the past.
Ability to translate technical product attributes into clear, credible customer value.
Hands-on experience sourcing leads, cold outreach, and leveraging personal networks.
Strong working knowledge of pricing, contracts, budgets, and commercial metrics.
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.

Nice To Haves

Prior leadership role at a Series A+ startup with responsibility across commercial and operational functions.
Familiarity with food, biotech, or chemical regulatory and quality requirements.
Experience with supply chains, manufacturing, or logistics in food, biotech, or chemical industries.

Responsibilities

Own and lead all business development and commercialization activities, working directly with the CEO to close partnerships and deals. You are responsible for creating product–market fit for Hyfé’s initial bioactive and fiber product lines.
Build and progress pipeline through cold calling and leveraging your personal network to get introductions to potential customers.
Identify, engage, develop, and close 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.