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Program and Bid Manager (Luxembourg)

ClearSpace

ClearSpace

Sales & Business Development
Luxembourg
Posted 6+ months ago

At ClearSpace, we believe in reusability, in affordability driving disruption, and that no progress is real unless it is sustainable. Our company was founded in 2018 out of the realization that in-orbit servicing and space debris removal are vital services for the future of space exploration and operations. Today ClearSpace has assembled an expert engineering team and is leading the way toward sustainable space operations. From a garage in Switzerland, we now operate across Europe and the US, and are working with world-leading institutions and companies to bring our dream of a sustainable space ecosystem to life.


Motivated to join us and make a difference beyond earth? We are currently looking for dual hat Program and Bid Manager to join our team.

The Role
The Program Manager will be a key member to our Luxembourg team, who will be accountable and responsible for the overall success of a space projects considering all aspects (Contractual, Financial, Performance and Quality). This requires extensive experience of all aspects and
practices within the satellite and launcher industries from the initial concept/RFP phase to post launch. You will be responsible for the interfaces with the customer which means we are looking for someone with significant experience in a senior position on satellite programs, both within
industry and as a customer. In the role as Big Manager we are looking for someone who will work alongside our Luxembourg Managing Director to develop bids and secure funding for ClearSpace, and will support in several business development related areas including proposal production for institutional and commercial opportunities. ClearSpace is a fast-paced and dynamic environment, with plenty of opportunities to learn and contribute. This role would suit someone with past experience in bids or sales, ideally in the spacecraft sector or in complex engineering services or products, who wishes to grow responsibility in the space Business Development area.


Key performance indicators will be:
• Satellite program is a success and meets lifetime, performance and quality requirements
• Contractual milestones and objectives are achieved for satellite, launcher and postlaunch
• Satellite is delivered and launched within the required schedule
• No additional expenditure is necessary beyond that allocated for the Contracts.
• Create and maintain a high level of “Team spirit”


Key activities will be:
• Negotiate and manage current Satellite procurement contracts for design, development, production and AIT to ensure requirements are met within the constraints allocated and within the required budgets and timescales
• Ensure deliverables are compliant with the contract baseline requirements and in accordance with the contractual milestone dates, expedite resolution of problem areas
• Manage the satellite launcher contract to ensure satellite compatibility and launch with the required performance and within the required budget and timescales.
• Define and manage the ClearSpace engineering and quality support activities for the program to ensure the necessary level of supervision of the contractors for all activities from the formal go-ahead until in-orbit hand-over to ClearSpace Ground & Ops team
• Post launch management of the satellite contract
• Responsible for the Technical Support to the Insurance Broker for the Satellite Insurance Contract
• Negotiate and advise on project financial issues and responsible for the Program Payment Plan
• Provision of support to satellite pre-contract Request for Proposal preparations, bid evaluation and negotiations resulting in finalisation of a Contract
• Control of technical activities and project resources
• Supporting engineering hiring plan and interviews
• Supporting proposal writing for future business
• Working with the Luxembourg Managing Director to take responsibility for managing and coordinating entire bids, or parts of bids as required, through the bid process from call opening all the way to bid submission (leading or supporting negotiation as needed).
• Control overall production of the bid volumes to ensure delivery on schedule.
• Draw on other relevant teams in Clearspace (as needed for larger bids), including: engineering, procurement & contractual, finance, policy &
regulatory.
• Ensure bid execution according to bid Product Assurance/Quality Assurance philosophy; conduct bid/no bid reviews and later stage bid
reviews (e.g. gold / red team) as appropriate, conduct win-theme analysis.
• Control bid finances, working with finance team and with external partners on multi-partner / consortium-style to assign / control finances.
• Coordinating partner inputs (scope, finances), with procurement as needed, for multi-partner / consortium-style bids. Support programmes and studies as needed.


Required Experience:
• 8+ years experience in the spacecraft industry with 3+ years in technical leadership positions and 1 – 4 years’ experience working in bid management in the space industry, with a preference for those with domain knowledge and institutional and commercial bidding capability.
• Experience in decomposition of system requirements, trade studies and sizing/error budget development for a Spacecraft system.
• Familiarity with the full space program lifecycle, from business development, proposal generation and contract negotiations, all the way through design, development, assembly, test and successful delivery.
• Confidence with leading multidisciplinary project teams.
• Highly organized, capable of tracking multiple streams of critical activities at once.
• Experience working in a technical capacity with LEO, MEO or GEO Spacecraft system definition and design.
• Comfortable interacting with customers, both institutional (UKSA, ESA) and commercial.
• An excellent “sales / marketing style” in bid production which can be used to convey the selling points of the business, and to construct competitive but deliverable bids and commercial proposals.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and willing to take initiative.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and written/verbal communication skills including to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong understanding of the space industry and ecosystem. Passionate about space with knowledge of the space environment and space debris.


Desired Experience:
An in-depth knowledge or a level of expertise including practical experiences in three or more of the following areas is required:
• Program Management skills
• Negotiation skills
• Spacecraft Engineering/Design
• Platform Engineering
• Quality Assurance
• Systems/AIT
• Launcher Engineering
• Launch Campaign Management
• Communication, negotiation skills
• Satellite Insurance Requirements/Contracts
• Corporate affairs/finance/strategy
• Satellite In-orbit Operations
• Team Leadership


For Bid management:
• Experience of bidding into the following technical domains: in-orbit servicing, active debris removal. Space segment bid capacity desirable, ground segment bid capacity also useful but not essential.
• Experience of working on bids of various different sizes, from 1 to 2 pager propositions for expressions of interest, to small Research & Development bids, to larger mission / service proposals of hundreds of pages.
• Experience of delivering / compiling key volumes for bids: technical, commercial, financial, implementation, management, contractual, risk.
• Understanding of project management of space programmes, or some past experience in this area. Experience of working in a satellite business development or satellite sales environment.


Desired Education:
• MSc Degree in Aerospace, Engineering, Mechatronics, Physics or similar


Desired Strengths:
• A team player, willing to get stuck in and collaborate wherever is needed
• Agile, flexible and able to work across a geographically-distributed teams
• A great communicator

ClearSpace Offers:
• The freedom to evolve and grow within a team of experienced specialists
• The opportunity to be a key player in some of the most exciting space missions
• A caring and collaborative working environment
• The possibility of partial remote working and flexible hour