Vice President Sales & Strategic Funding (m/f/d)

Mission Brief As Vice President Sales & Strategic Funding, you are responsible for driving Isar Aerospace's commercial growth through customer acquisition, strategic partnerships, business development, grants, and non-dilutive funding initiatives. Reporting directly to the Chief Commercial Officer, you lead the Sales & Business Development organization as well as the Grants & Prizes team to maximize revenue generation, long-term market positioning, and external funding opportunities. Your mission is to build and scale a world-class commercial organization that secures launch contracts, develops strategic customer relationships, expands market access, and captures public funding, grants, and awards that accelerate Isar Aerospace's growth and competitiveness. You act as a key member of the Commercial leadership team, translating corporate strategy into commercial execution while ensuring alignment across business units, engineering, program management, finance, legal, and government affairs. Your Role in Our Space Mission: 1) Commercial strategy & leadership - Define and execute the company's sales, business development, and strategic funding strategy in alignment with corporate objectives and launch capacity planning. - Lead, develop, and scale high-performing teams across Sales, Business Development, Grants, and Prizes. - Establish commercial governance, operating rhythms, target setting, and performance management processes. - Build a culture of accountability, customer focus, execution excellence, and continuous improvement. - Serve as a trusted advisor to the Chief Commercial Officer on commercial opportunities, risks, and market developments. 2) Sales leadership & revenue growth - Own the commercial pipeline from opportunity identification through contract signature and handover to execution teams. - Lead customer acquisition efforts across commercial, institutional, and government markets. - Drive contract negotiations and secure long-term launch agreements and strategic partnerships. - Develop account management strategies for key customers and stakeholders. - Ensure accurate forecasting of bookings, revenue, market demand, and launch manifests. - Monitor competitive positioning, market dynamics, customer trends, and emerging opportunities. 3) Business development & strategic partnerships - Identify, evaluate, and develop strategic partnerships that strengthen Isar Aerospace's market position and growth trajectory. - Expand relationships across institutional, industrial, and international stakeholders. - Lead market entry strategies for new geographies, sectors, and customer segments. - Drive strategic initiatives that enhance the company's commercial ecosystem and long-term competitiveness. - Represent the company at industry events, conferences, and strategic forums. 4) Grants, prizes & non-dilutive funding - Own the company's strategy for grants, public funding programs, innovation incentives, and industry awards. - Lead identification, prioritization, and pursuit of national, European, and international funding opportunities. - Ensure high-quality proposal development and submission processes in close collaboration with technical, financial, and program teams. - Manage relationships with funding agencies, governmental organizations, and regulatory stakeholders. - Maximize the value, success rate, and strategic impact of non-dilutive funding initiatives. - Oversee compliance and reporting obligations related to awarded funding programs. 5) Cross-functional commercial execution - Align closely with Engineering, Program Management, Finance, Legal, Operations, and Executive Leadership to ensure commercial commitments are realistic, executable, and strategically aligned. - Support long-term demand planning and manifest optimization. - Ensure customer and funding requirements are appropriately translated into internal priorities and decision-making. - Drive structured communication and escalation processes across stakeholder groups. - Work closely with Sales Operations to continuously optimize team efficiency through process excellence and first-class IT tool usage. 6) Commercial operations & performance management - Define key commercial KPIs and operating mechanisms to monitor performance. - Establish scalable sales processes, CRM discipline, pipeline management, and opportunity governance. - Improve forecasting accuracy, conversion rates, proposal effectiveness, and sales cycle efficiency. - Drive data-driven decision-making across the commercial organization. - Build annual budgets and manage resources within approved financial targets. 7) External representation & stakeholder engagement - Act as a senior commercial ambassador for Isar Aerospace. - Strengthen relationships with customers, investors, government agencies, institutional partners, and industry associations. - Support executive-level engagements, negotiations, and strategic initiatives. - Represent Isar Aerospace in public funding and commercial forums where appropriate. Qualification Checklist - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Engineering, Economics, Aerospace, or a related field. - Significant experience in sales, business development, commercial leadership, or strategic partnerships within aerospace, defense, technology, industrial, or highly regulated sectors. - Proven experience leading high-performing sales and business development organizations. - Track record of securing complex, high-value commercial agreements and strategic partnerships. - Demonstrated success in developing and executing commercial growth strategies. - Strong understanding of government and institutional procurement environments. - Experience with grants, public funding programs, innovation funding, or other non-dilutive financing mechanisms. - Strong financial and commercial acumen, including forecasting, business case development, and contract negotiations. - Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills. - Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with significant ambiguity and complexity. - Fluent in English. Bonus Skills - Experience within the launch, satellite, aerospace, defense, or space technology sectors. - Experience managing international sales organizations. - Familiarity with European Commission, ESA, DLR, national space agency, or defense funding programs. - Experience with government affairs and institutional customer engagement. - Strong understanding of export control, regulatory, and compliance considerations. - Additional language skills, particularly German or other European languages. - Previous experience scaling commercial organizations during periods of rapid growth. Benefits - Employee Participation Program: Share in our success through our virtual company share program - 30 days of vacation: Enjoy the days off to relax and recharge - Company pension plan: Secure your future with our company pension plan, featuring a 20% employer contribution after the probation period - Subsidised lunch: Stay energised with delicious, subsidised lunches every day - Public transport ticket: Commute with ease using a fully financed Deutschlandticket - Rental clothing with laundry service: Enjoy hassle-free workwear with our convenient rental clothing and laundry service - Sport Clubs membership: Stay fit with our sponsored sports club memberships (EGYM Wellpass) - Individual learning allowance: Grow your skills with an individual learning budget granted after the probation period - Childcare allowance: Receive a childcare allowance for your non-school-age children - And Much More! Discover additional perks and benefits when you join our team. Who we are We are Isar Aerospace and we are at the forefront of New Space building a modern space business to enable faster, better and cheaper access to space. Our mission is to help democratise space and use it for good in order to improve life on Earth now and for the future generations. We are a fast-growing company aiming to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly launch solutions for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations into Low Earth Orbit. The company is privately funded by world-leading technology investors with strong commitment and support and our team is made of driven and talented people with a real passion for space innovation. We're making rockets in a way that hasn't been done before disrupting a traditional industry. If you are up for the challenge, want to work on cutting-edge projects and be part of a team changing the world for better, come, join us and launch your career! Want to find out more about us? Visit www.isaraerospace.com Data Protection We process your personal data for the purpose of managing the recruitment process and assessing your application. For detailed information on how your data is processed, including your rights, please refer to our Privacy Policy. Disclaimer Isar Aerospace SE is an equal-opportunity employer committed to fairness and inclusivity. We do not prioritize any specific religion, gender, nationality, or background. Due to security clearance requirements, affiliations with countries listed under § 13 para. 1 no. 17 SÜG may affect the application process. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.