NewOrbit Space - Commercial Lead
Requirements
• Space industry experience (required): Must have direct experience selling satellites or space hardware - payloads, cameras, antennas, subsystems. Candidates without space industry sales experience will not be considered. • Experience: Minimum 5 years in business development or key accounts, with wins across government procurement and large-enterprise buying centres. • Customer knowledge: Up to date on where satellite/space hardware customers are coming from today, across government, primes, and OEMs - not relying on outdated relationships. • Full sales cycle ownership: Demonstrated experience across all stages - pre-tender shaping, capture planning, proposal/bid leadership, negotiation, and contract close. • Tender mastery: Demonstrated success leading competitive bids (capture planning, scoring criteria, compliance, pricing) and handling long, multi-stakeholder cycles. • Deal craft: Strong negotiation track record on MSAs/SOWs, licensing, co-development, and milestone-based contracts; fluent in IP and risk allocation. • Domain fluency: Able to translate complex engineering (propulsion, LEO satellite platforms, qualification, test/readiness reviews) into customer value and business cases. • Leadership & mentoring: Proven ability to recruit, develop, and manage high-performing commercial or sales teams. • Process & tools: Disciplined CRM usage, forecasting, and KPI ownership (win rate, cycle time, stage conversion, ACV/TCV). • Governance & compliance: Familiarity with public-sector procurement practices and export-control considerations; knows when to engage specialists. • Marketing savvy: Skilled in shaping and delivering impactful presentations, narratives, and proposals that resonate with diverse audiences. • Soft skills: Executive presence, exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, stakeholder influence, and resilience in long negotiations. • Ways of working: High ownership in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment; willing to travel for customer meetings, briefings, and negotiations. • Experience at a small satellite company that scaled into a large business - candidates who've operated through that growth curve are especially well suited to this role.
Responsibilities
• We are seeking an experienced Commercial Lead to build and lead a high-performing commercial function that drives strategic customer relationships and secures high-value contracts with both government customers and large enterprises (primarily satellite primes and OEMs). • You'll own the path from shaping opportunities before tenders open, through leading competitive proposals, to securing multi-year contracts and driving sustained account growth. Your ability to navigate complex, high-stakes deals, foster a results-driven culture, and partner with our engineering and business teams will directly influence NewOrbit's market leadership. • Dual-market ownership (Gov & Enterprise): Build and execute account strategies for agencies and large companies; map stakeholders, budgets, and decision paths; shape requirements before tenders open. • Tender intelligence & capture: Track pipelines across government portals and enterprise sourcing calendars; run capture plans, win themes, and competitor/price-to-win analyses; lead bid/no-bid decisions. • Proposal leadership: Orchestrate compliant submissions; coordinate clarifications, BAFO, and oral presentations. • Complex deal negotiation: Close supply, licensing, and co-development agreements; negotiate IP, warranties/liability, service levels, and milestone payments aligned to TRL gates. • Partnerships & consortia: Structure teaming with primes, SMEs, universities, and test partners to strengthen bids and delivery confidence. • Forecasting & governance: Maintain a transparent pipeline with stage gating, ACV/TCV, probability, and cycle metrics; report risks/mitigations and drive executive decision forums. • Voice of customer: Feed market and procurement insights into roadmaps, qualification timelines, pricing, and make/buy decisions. • Compliance & controls: Work with Legal/Compliance on export control (UK/EU/US regimes), information security, and public-sector procurement rules. • Market presence & pitching: Represent NewOrbit at industry events, tender briefings, space conferences, and executive reviews; deliver compelling pitches and presentations that clearly communicate our vision and value proposition. • Team leadership: Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing commercial team, fostering persistence, creativity, and a results-driven culture.
Benefits
• Pioneering space technology - Your work on our RF gridded ion thrusters and VLEO satellite platform will redefine satellite operations and challenge traditional LEO. • Ownership and impact - You'll have a level of ownership that's rare in the space industry, and you'll take part in the full lifecycle of satellite technology. • Equity and competitive salary - Alongside a competitive salary you receive a company ownership stake, so you share in the technology you help build and in our collective success. • Comprehensive benefits - Private health insurance with dental and optical cover, and annual health check-ups. • Hybrid working - One dedicated remote day per week. • Visa sponsorship and relocation support - We sponsor visas and provide relocation support for candidates moving to join us.
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