Kickstage Mission Manager

PAVE Space SA; Villeneuve (VD); Remote; CHF 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

PAVE Space SA in Villeneuve (VD) is seeking a mission designer to turn a customer payload and target orbit into a credible trajectory. You will own the feasibility analysis, build the delta-V budget, and craft a defensible mission narrative for customers and proposals.

With 3–6 years in mission analysis or spacecraft engineering and a degree in aerospace engineering, you will present results under deadline in English (French a plus).

Qualifications

• 3–6 years in mission analysis, mission design, or spacecraft and launch systems engineering.
• Able to own feasibility end-to-end and defend the answer.
• Able to present the technical story to customers, not just to sales.
• English fluent; French a plus.
• Degree in aerospace engineering or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Design missions end to end: payload, orbit, delta-V budget, sizing, and feasibility.
• Perform trade studies to scope defensible missions quickly.
• Own the technical narrative of LYOBA for customers and proposals.
• Write technical sections of RFPs and proposals to win.
• Translate customer CONOPS into concrete mission architectures.

Skills

Mission analysis

Customer-facing

Proposal writing

Education

Aerospace engineering degree

Tools

GMAT

STK

FreeFlyer

Job description

PAVE Space is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving up to 4-tonne payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours.

Customer requests and RFPs are coming in faster than we can answer them properly, and each one needs real mission analysis before we can commit. Today that work either waits or pulls engineers off the product. You'll turn a customer's payload and target orbit into a credible mission, and a credible answer, in days, so the commercial effort never stalls on a feasibility question.

You will own

Mission design end to end: take a customer's payload and target orbit, build the trajectory, delta-V budget, and sizing, and tell us what's feasible

Trade studies that turn a loose customer hypothesis into a scoped, defensible mission, fast

The technical narrative of LYOBA deals: own the mission story in front of the customer, not just behind the scenes

The technical sections of RFP and proposal responses, written to win

Translating customer CONOPS and requirements into concrete LYOBA mission architectures

A reference library of mission scenarios, so the next answer is quicker than the last

What we are looking for

3 to 6 years in mission analysis, mission design, or spacecraft and launch systems engineering

Comfortable owning feasibility end to end and putting your name on the answer

You can sit in front of a customer and own the technical story, not just hand it to sales

Quick and rigorous under deadline; an RFP answer that's late is an RFP answer that's lost

Fluent English (our working language); French a plus

A degree in aerospace engineering or the equivalent earned in practice

Nice to have: programme or project management experience, GEO transfer and orbit-raising experience, kick stages or orbital transfer vehicles, customer-facing or pre-sales engineering, RFP and proposal work, GMAT/STK/FreeFlyer or similar tools, defence or institutional missions.

You will fit if

You like the moment a vague customer ask becomes a hard number you can defend.

You're organised to the core: nothing slips, and your written work is sharp and easy to act on.

You keep a discussion moving toward a decision instead of letting it drift.

You're not shy in the room: you'll make the technical point with a customer or a colleague and hold it.

You move when the deadline moves, because you know a slow answer is a lost deal.

This is hard and early, and fully on-site in Villeneuve (VD) because we move faster in the same room. LYOBA is in development, so you'll be sizing missions for a vehicle still being built, with the unknowns that come with that. We'd rather tell you that than pretend the numbers are all settled.

What makes that worth it: you'll work directly with the CEO on every critical deal, in the room and on the calls, helping PAVE Space land its first commercial wins. This is harder than selling a product that already exists. You're earning a customer's trust in a vehicle still being proven, and your analysis is what turns interest into a signed mission. Few roles will shape where the company goes next this directly.

We are building to ship, grounded on real hardware, real funding, real milestones.