Senior Director for Business Development - Europe

Wanna Join the Adventure?

Loft Orbital is looking for a Senior Director to lead our European business development efforts, with a specific focus on:1. France 2030 including the Hexagon project and CNES2. the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC)3. European commercial opportunities4. Other institutional opportunities (DLR, UKSA etc.)

Having set up our European office in Toulouse, we’ve become a key player in the industry, and are looking to expand upon our success.

The ideal candidate will be an established business development professional within the French and European space industry. With a strong network within CNES, ESA and/or the EC, they will actively seek out new opportunities, building a strong pipeline for our future missions and successfully closing contracts. In addition, this person will be looking for other institutional (CNES, DLR, UKSA) and commercial opportunities to grow our client base in Europe.

Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t ‘check all the boxes.

About The Role:

• Lead the Business Development effort in Europe with respect to France 2030, CNES, the European Space Agency, the European Commission and commercial opportunities in Europe:
• Define and implement ways to influence the design of Requests for Proposals, by ensuring a continuous dialogue, producing White Papers, and setting up other ways to increase Loft Orbital’s recognition, visibility and credibility
• Manage Loft Orbital answer to those RFP
• Develop a lobbying and communications plan to maximize the chance of closing
• Lead on other European Institutional opportunities CNES, DLR, UKSA etc.
• Lead on the business development of commercial European industrial clients.
• Identifying new opportunities and building a solid sales pipeline.
• Negotiation of contracts leading to successfully winning business.
• Regularly interact with French government customers in both business and technical conversations. You will be expected to deeply understand Loft Orbital’s technologies and value proposition and be able to convey it to prospective customers.
• Interface between Loft Orbital’s subject-matter experts within the engineering team, to build comprehensive technical solutions for Loft Orbital’s customers.
• Writing white papers (or relying on others to get them written) and coordinating Loft Orbital responses to RFPs and RFIs, as well as grants
• Understand, explain, and synthetize the entire scope of activities performed by Loft Orbital (software development, satellite system design, satellite operations) to sell to the French Government and European institutional and commercial prospects

Must Haves:

• Demonstrated success in capturing new business with the French Government, CNES, ESA and EC
• Understanding of the operating practices of the French Government, CNES, ESA and the EC, and associated procurement processes
• 10+ years of relevant experience in a customer-focused position involving technical knowledge of the company’s products or services, specifically focused on space systems or equivalent.
• Experience and/or familiarity with CNES/ESA/EC lobbying
• Technical background in the Space sector
• Extensive experience in technical writing of Request for Proposal (RFP) responses
• Effective professional communication skills
• Fluency in French and English, both spoken and written

Nice to Haves:

• Other European language skills

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

• Equity, we want you to have an active role in our success
• Up to 35 days of Paid Time Off (vacations & RTT ) and flexible working hours, we want you to be at your best
• Health and life insurance, we care about your health
• Lunch Vouchers, because let’s be honest, we love food! (we even have a slack channel about it #loft-gourmand)
• Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado, and Toulouse to learn from our differences
• Company and team off-sites and many other events to work & celebrate together
• Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable