Founding VP, US Business Development & Sales - Spaceplane

Description

This is a fully remote senior, industry-facing role with the responsibility for establishing and scaling Dawn Aerospace’s spaceplane business across the United States. You’ll have ownership of Aurora’s US-based business, driving revenue, pipeline, and long-term market growth. This is high-impact, high-visibility role, and your chance to own a unique, winning capability in a rapidly-growing market. We’re looking for a driven and credible leader who can secure anchor customers and build a pipeline of commercial missions on the Aurora. As the founding VP, you will be supported by our global sales team as you establish a foothold in the US-market. This isn't a typical business development role. You won't inherit a playbook. You'll write it. 

Responsibilities

Regional Business Development 

• Own the commercial rollout for Aurora in the United States and be accountable for revenue, pipeline quality, and long-term market position. 
• Engage directly with prospective customers to understand their challenges and identify where Aurora can deliver value. Identify, qualify, and prioritize opportunities in commercial, national security, and research sectors. 
• Understand and articulate the technical capabilities of the Aurora spaceplane. Translate customer needs into technically viable and cost-effective mission or vehicle acquisition proposals. 
• Activate and expand senior-level relationships across relevant federal and state government departments and agencies including the NASA, prime contractors, and research institutions. 
• Lead complex, multi-stakeholder deal cycles involving high-volume mission services, sovereign capability development, and vehicle sales. 

Strategic Growth 

• Establish the Aurora as a recognized capability within American national security, civil, and research agencies. 
• Identify and establish strategic operating locations, partners, and facilities for American spaceplane operations. 
• Drive negotiation of commercial, technical, and governance terms alongside legal, engineering, and operations teams. 
• Feed regional market intelligence directly into Dawn Aerospace’s global product road map and fleet-expansion strategy. 

Qualifications

• 10-15 years of experience in business development, sales, or mission management in aerospace, aviation, deep-tech, or a closely related sector. 
• Established senior-level network across United States’ aerospace, defense, or government ecosystems. 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a customer-first mindset 
• Proven track record leading complex, long-cycle programmes involving government, institutional, or prime contractor stakeholders. 
• Demonstrated ability to operate autonomously in new markets and build a credible presence quickly.

Desired Experience

• Experience working directly with customers in aerospace research, defense, or government space agencies. 
• Familiarity with export control such as ITAR/EAR, security, and regulatory frameworks. 
• Background working with primes, Tier-1 suppliers, or sovereign capability programmes. 
• A strong understanding of general aerospace principles such as flight mechanics, mission planning, and project lifecycles. 
• Previous experience selling or supporting technically advanced products or services in aviation, aerospace, or related engineering sectors. 
• Familiarity with HubSpot, or similar CRM suite. 
• Ability and willingness to travel both domestically and internationally 

What We Offer 

• A senior role establishing a new category of reusable, high-cadence spaceplane operations. 
• Opportunities to work with cutting-edge aerospace technology and with a wide range of global customers. 
• A fast-paced, collaborative team environment with a shared vision for the future of space access. 
• This role offers a competitive executive compensation package, including participation in Dawn Aerospace’s equity incentive plan. This is a unique opportunity to join a high-growth space startup at an early stage and share in the creation of substantial long-term value, with equity structured to reflect the seniority, responsibility, and market-building impact of the role.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Dawn Aerospace, we believe that diverse teams build better solutions. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences are valued and supported to do their best work.

About Dawn Aerospace

Dawn Aerospace is a space transportation company with a purpose.
Our mission is to enable the next generation of space users by providing more sustainable and scalable ways to access and move around in space. We believe this access, in the form of a transportation network, will fundamentally change what’s possible from space. We currently focus on three areas of space transportation:

• In-space propulsion
  We're a leading supplier of turnkey green propulsion systems for various classes of satellites. Our systems utilise safe, accessible propellants and we have over 170 of these propulsion units on more than 40 operational satellites already. A further 200 units are in production.
• In-space servicing
  Coupled with our propulsion expertise, we are ensuring that our customers' satellites are refuellable. In the coming years, Dawn will offer a refueling service to enable life extension of customer satellites. This new market is aligned with our sustainability goal to ensue a clean and safe space for everyone! 
• Spaceplane
  We are developing the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever to take off from a runway, combining the extreme performance of rocket propulsion with the reusability of conventional airplanes to enable high-frequency, low-cost access to sub-orbital space.

Our international teams are distributed across four locations: the Netherlands, France, New Zealand, and the USA.

Apply for this Job

Important!

If you think you have what it takes but are unsure that you check every box, we still want to hear from you.

To all recruitment agencies: Dawn Aerospace does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our job’s alias, our employees, or any other company location. Dawn Aerospace will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.