Space Launch Program Lead

Dawn Aerospace is a space transportation company with a track record of being the best in class. If you do too, please apply to help us build our next rocketship.

Dawn is the fastest-growing green propulsion company in the world with 57 propulsion units on 12 operational satellites in orbit. As we grow, we now need someone to take the reins for our spaceplane and get it to a commercial state too.

Our spaceplanes are a clean sheet design. Rapid reuse means much lower costs than a rocket. Using runways means there is existing infrastructure to deploy and scale globally. Take off and landing like a plane means regulations allow us to fly multiple times per day. These are all feats that facilitate a scalability and sustainability rockets will never achieve.

Our committed and motivated team has already achieved the first steps toward our goal of reaching space twice in one day, and we are now in search of someone who is able to step up to the challenge of leading this global team. This role leads all aspects of space launch including Mk-II, Mk-III, second stage and all ground ops. Though this role could be undertaken from either our Netherlands or Christchurch office, we expect Christchurch to be the better location.

Given the nature of an entrepreneurial venture in a complex and dynamic emerging market, this is the ideal opportunity for someone who has demonstrated that invaluable mix of:

• The people skills required to assemble, develop, and sustain cross-functional teams, set direction and produce results in a technical context of significant complexity and ambiguity.
• The ability and desire to foster a positive and motivated team culture.
• The business acumen, drive and sense of urgency required to grasp, operationalize, and deliver on ambitious targets.
• The ability to think strategically, identify opportunities and mitigate risks in complex, multi disciplinary projects.
• A combination of technical knowledge, experience, persistence and creativity needed to lead teams to exceptional results.
• The flexibility and resilience required to generate and sustain the effort needed on the part of both you and team members, to overcome the hurdles inherent in working toward innovative goals with limited resources.
• As one of three key program owners reporting directly to our CEO, you will shoulder significant accountability to directors, investors and fellow team-members for progress toward goals, owning the lifecycle of the system from design to deployment and its alignment with overall business plans.

This role will involve:

• Directing, managing and mentoring the team
• Working in collaboration with the Chief Engineer as well as sub-system team leads
• Establishing and managing program budgets, timelines and resources.
• Fostering a culture of rapid development, extreme ownership, and collaboration
• Strategic planning for technology development for the company.
• Working with teams as required to achieve the departmental goals

We expect you are likely to have:

• A minimum Bachelor’s degree in engineering, or other relevant discipline
• 5+ years of experience executing complex or advanced engineering projects
• 5+ years of program management and people leadership experience in a relevant industry
• Experience in aerospace

If this describes your qualities, and if you have a passion for aerospace and the opportunities that it offers, we are very interested in having a conversation with you.

In your application please illustrate what you believe are the key aspects of leadership and management.

Please note that in order to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we offer this position subject to the following restrictions: candidates may undergo background checks, including nationality and residency checks, nationals and residents of countries other than in the EU, NATO members, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland, may not be eligible for this position (including the case of dual citizenship or nationality).