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Job details:
Founding hire #1 at The Core Meal: complete nutrition for the 5 billion people who don't get it.
APPLY AT thecoremeal.com/apply (details at the end). Full JD at thecoremeal.com/fa.
About The Core Meal
The Core Meal is a shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meal system built to deliver complete daily nutrition without kitchens, fuel, clean water, or cold chain. Nutrition infrastructure in product form. TCM Nutrition Systems Private Limited was incorporated June 2026 (MCA approved). The company is self-funded, pre-production (product in final refinement with our manufacturing partner), and founder-led. We are early. Our food-science partner is Thinking Forks, the team behind Yoga Bar. We have active buyer conversations with humanitarian and institutional organizations. This is the stage where the earliest decisions shape what the company becomes, and you would be the first person in the building.
The role
You would be a founding member of TCM's team and our legs on the ground in India. The work spans whatever needs shipping that week: internal AI tools, an outreach engine that researches, drafts, and follows up on its own, research systems that produce decision-grade briefs, operational follow-through, vendor coordination, packaging iteration. You build and quality-control the machines; AI does the heavy lifting. The foundational skill is AI fluency. There's no playbook yet. You'll figure out what needs doing, do it, and ideally automate it before it becomes recurring.
The model I'm looking for: you operate independently, send clear daily updates with status, blockers, and next steps, and pull me in when I'm actually needed. If you need tightly-scoped responsibilities and task-by-task direction, you will struggle here. If you thrive on figuring out what needs shipping next and shipping it, you'll fit.
The first deliverables
At least these three, sequenced by you:
- TCM's Sales/Partnerships CRM and first outreach automation: identify targets, draft tailored copy, send, follow up until a human is needed.
- 2. The corporate campus pipeline mapped with named buyers (facilities, wellness, CSR), research-briefed.
- 3. The next high-leverage incubator or program to apply to, researched, recommended, with a draft application.
On the engagement structure
This is a full-time seat from day one. The first three months run as a consulting contract: honestly, it is a mutual evaluation period, standard for a company this young, and it also covers the gap while the new entity's banking and payroll come online. Same work, same tempo, same expectations as the permanent role. If we are both right about each other, it converts to direct employment. One transition, no ambiguity.
Who you are
You have shipped real things. Personal projects, hackathon wins, open-source contributions, or internship work with tangible output. Coursework alone does not count. You have the technical taste to make AI, no-code, scripts, and APIs do real work. You do not need to be a software engineer. You do need to ship tools that survive daily use, not demos. You are mission-aligned. You want to build something that materially reduces hunger and malnutrition.
Compensation and the fine print
TCM is mission-locked, self-funded, and offers no equity by design. What you get is named ownership of outcomes, direct founder access, shared AI tool and learning budgets, and a first-seat runway that grows with the company. Compensation is set per person and will not be the blocker for an exceptional candidate.
The basics
Bangalore or Hyderabad preferred (our food-science partner is in Bangalore; our contract manufacturer and key institutions are in Hyderabad). Exceptional remote candidates willing to travel will be considered. In-person or hybrid. You report directly to me.
How to apply
Apply at thecoremeal.com/apply. You will provide:
- Two or three things you have shipped, with links or brief descriptions.
- 2. A short note on why TCM specifically (not "I'm passionate about impact": what about TCM's actual model resonates with you).
- 3. Your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- 4. Your expected monthly compensation.
You will hear back within 3 business days, usually faster. The whole process is one shipped-work conversation and one founder conversation, decided inside two weeks.
Click on Apply to know more.