Executive Director, THE GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE EUROPE

Lead the strategy and team behind Europe’s push for protein diversification

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is a nonprofit think tank at the forefront of the movement to transform meat production in order to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, from climate change and global hunger to antibiotic resistance and animal suffering. Our vision is a thriving world, fed sustainably.

With a nonprofit entity in Belgium, a branch in the UK and colleagues working from seven other countries that make up GFI Europe, we are also part of an international network of affiliates. We advance the science, policies and investment needed to make plant-based, cultivated and fermentation-made meat delicious, affordable and accessible across Europe. Please check out the rest of our website, our 2025 Year in Review and our 2025 Europe highlights blog post to find out more about who we are and what we do.

We are looking for an Executive Director to lead GFI Europe’s strategy and team, play a key role in shaping and advancing GFI’s global strategy, and foster the relationships and organisational strength needed to accelerate the shift towards a resilient and sustainable food system.

How You Will Make a Difference

You will have high responsibility and high impact. Reporting to, and appointed by, the Board of GFI Europe, you will lead a :50-person team working from nine European countries.

You will:

• Enable strategic focus:
  • Align the team around a clear and compelling organisational direction that aligns with the GFI network’s mission and theory of change.
  • Translate organisational direction into high-level priorities in collaboration with GFI Europe’s Leadership Team.
  • Ensure Europe’s strategic decisions are made well - soliciting the right input from the right people, preserving autonomy in areas of specific expertise, and making decisions when organisation-wide trade-offs are required.
  • Take ultimate responsibility for maximising outcomes and impact in pursuit of our mission.
• Provide leadership to the team:
  • Empower, develop and inspire a high-performing, people-centric team.
  • Lead GFI Europe’s Leadership Team, formed of six department heads, ensuring they continue to function on a ‘first-team’ basis to achieve organisational objectives.
  • Champion and uphold a values-driven culture built upon transparency, autonomy, collaboration, accountability, and psychological safety. Champion the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion into the team’s day-to-day work.
• Represent GFI Europe in GFI’s international network:
  • Participate in international strategic and coordination workstreams as a member of GFI’s Regional Leadership Group, comprising GFI’s affiliate leads.
  • Act as the primary liaison between GFI’s affiliates and European teams on strategies, processes and goals. Ensure the Europe team can successfully connect with, influence, support and navigate a complex international network, including global workstreams such as fundraising and impact reporting.
  • Participate in discussions about global strategy and resource allocation so as to maximise GFI’s overall mission impact, including communicating GFI Europe’s strategy, resourcing needs and contributions as part of the international GFI network.
• Represent GFI Europe in front of donors and external stakeholders:
  • Work closely with global and Europe-based fundraising teams to help ensure GFI achieves its fundraising goals.
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with donors, prospective supporters and key stakeholders.
  • Serve as a public representative of, and spokesperson for, the organisation by speaking at conferences, events, and with the media.
• Oversee organisational health:
  • Ensure strong governance, legal compliance, financial sustainability and reporting in partnership with the Board and the Head of Operations.
  • Be the main legal representative of the organisation, reviewing and signing all legally relevant agreements and organisational documents.
• Perform other duties as appropriate.

Core capabilities needed to succeed in this role:

• Mission alignment. A passion for GFI’s philosophy and mission.
• Strategic judgement. Strong analytical skills and sound judgement, being able to absorb and process a range of types of information, understand the activities that GFI undertakes, and provide leadership and guidance to team members. You have the experience and ability to make strategic trade-offs across projects, functions, teams, countries/regions, programmes, etc - weighing resource allocation, prioritising impact, and communicating those decisions clearly and inclusively to stakeholders.
• Thoughtful leadership. You align teams behind