Position: Lab Culture Technician

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  • Position: Lab Culture Technician

    FMLA Status: Part Time Employee

    Commitment: 20-30 Hours per week

    Compensation: $18-$20 per hour DOE

    Company Overview:

    Enchanted Farms Mushrooms is an exciting new gourmet and medicinal mushroom company headquartered in Downtown Albuquerque. We’re passionate about mushrooms and localizing food systems, and providing nutritional, high-quality products regionally. Our commitment is to people and the planet. We’re laying a strong foundation for the mushroom generation that is taking off across the United States and beyond. Enchanted Farms Mushrooms is committed to reducing carbon emissions while innovating processes and products that meet the demands of the evolving consumer landscape. Our strength is in our ability to form strong community partnerships and apply time-tested production methods while intentionally leading with creativity and innovation to reach the best solutions for the company. The vision is to grow Enchanted Farms Mushrooms to a long-lasting enterprise that is driven by the following purposes: 

    • Support local and regional food systems. 
    • Improve the wellbeing of communities by developing healthy food products and supplements. 
    • Build a meaningful company culture, offering living wage jobs with benefits and a transformational work environment. 
    • Run an efficient and innovative operation that can support greater results.

    Who You Are:

    Do you value collaboration, innovation, and working together for the common good? Do you enjoy working in controlled environments and self-managing? As a Lab Culture Technician, you will help EFM achieve its goals of creating high-quality culinary mushrooms, providing the best products available, and developing improved systems and procedures. You will be expected to have a general understanding of the operations and ensure production of all products meets the highest standard. You are passionate about and thrive in a collaborative environment, but can independently manage your tasks, work well within and across teams, seek out learning new skills, sharing ideas, and shaping positive outcomes.

    Who You’ll Work With:

    In the Laboratory Department, you’ll work with the Mycologist and Head of Operations, other members of the team and across teams to produce, process, and create top quality mushrooms and products for our customers.

    Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

    • Maintain mushroom culture health: prepare media, perform culture transfers, and ensure proper environmental conditions for growth
    • Monitor growth: observe and record the progress of fungal cultures
    • Accurate data entry of culture details into the databases
    • Maintain lab cleanliness and safety
    • Ensure adequate lab supplies
    • Take monthly spawn inventory
    • Substrate bag inoculation: inoculate sterilized substrates and produce fruiting bags
    • Operate autoclave and produce substrate bags: load/unload and run the autoclave as well as produce hydrated substrate bags to be sterilized

    Product Excellence:

    • Ensure the quality of all products meets the highest standards.
    • Find solutions to problems that might arise and report in the process.
    • Ensure proper organization and management of documents.

    Knowledge of:

    • Sterile technique
    • Lab protocols and safety
    • Data analysis

    Skills/ Abilities:

    • Attention to detail
    • Manual dexterity
    • Record keeping: Accurate and organized documentation of culture workflow data
    • Time management: Efficiently manage tasks, prioritize and meet deadlines
    • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
    • Above average math skills
    • Problem-solving/Critical thinking

    Compensation and Benefits:

    • $18-20/hour based on experience
    • Free mushrooms from the “employee shelf”
    • Monthly company lunch

    Work Environment/Condition of Employment:

    This is a farm, you are expected to dress for the role, this does not mean employees need to wear collared shirts, slacks, dresses; rather the dress is casual with the requirement to wear closed toed shoes, long pants, no jewelry, and no scented products. Cleanliness is a critical aspect to the position and good hygiene practices are required. 

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