VP of Sovereign Affairs (gn) @ SpaceTech Venture, Villeneuve (CH)

This is an Atlantic portfolio venture

About the venture

Sovereign missions aren't sold. They're shaped.

PAVE Space builds orbital mobility, the missing logistics layer beyond LEO. This year we closed a USD 40M seed round (supported by Atlantic, Creandum, and Visionaries Clu) - one of the biggest in aerospace, and our first demo mission, GRAZE, is already in orbit. LYOBA, our orbital transfer vehicle, is open for booking.

Founded in 2023, we're already 56 people, with a 3,000 m² HQ in Villeneuve where we design and build in-house.

IBEX is our answer to the agility gap in contested orbits: a line of space capabilities for governments and institutions, about to be unveiled. We need someone to take it into ministries, agencies and primes, and turn first conversations into programmes that last a decade.

You'll report directly to our CEO, Julie Böhning.

What you'll do

• Open doors that stay open. Build trusted relationships with ministries, space and defence agencies, and prime contractors.

• Shape the mission before the tender exists. Learn how each customer really buys: who decides, what they need operationally, and how procurement works. Then help write the mission concepts and requirements.

• Close. Own the full cycle, from first signal to tender response to signature. Start with MoUs and pilots that are designed to grow.

• Be the customer's voice in engineering. Feed what you hear straight into how IBEX is built.

• Stay clear on export control. Work with Legal on ITAR, EAR and national regimes so nothing stalls on compliance.

What you bring

• You've closed big deals with government customers. Multi-million contracts, long cycles, many stakeholders, and you got them over the line.

• You can open doors in German defence. You have trusted relationships across BMVg, BAAINBw and the Bundeswehr, built over years, and people take your calls. Experience with NATO or EU programmes is a plus.

• You know how the system works from the inside: how procurement runs, and how security and compliance work in defence.

• Enough technical depth (mission design, orbital mechanics) to hold your own with engineers and turn customer needs into requirements

• Fluent German and English (both required)

What drives you

You believe Europe needs sovereign capabilities in space, and you want to be one of the people who build them. Frontier technology energises you. You carry weight with generals and engineers alike, move easily from a capability discussion to the contract that follows, and would rather shape a market than inherit one.

How we work

Keep it simple. Be brave. Set the bar high.

We're on-site every day in Villeneuve, close to the hardware and the people building it.