Business Development Manager – Space Ecosystem (Supply Acquisition)

Nebex; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Nebex is building institutional-grade market infrastructure for the global space economy. The Business Development Lead will be the first dedicated BD hire, focusing on identifying, engaging, and onboarding space startups as suppliers on our platform, translating their capabilities into market-ready offerings.

You will report to the Chief Operating Officer and collaborate with platform development, demand-side, and market operations teams to shape how Nebex sources and integrates supplier

Qualifications

• 4-8+ years in business development, partnerships, or ecosystem building.
• Proven ability to engage technical founders and translate capabilities into offerings.
• Comfort in fast-moving, early-stage environments with autonomy.
• Strong track record building relationships with founders, investors, and technical teams.
• Experience working across cross-functional teams to align BD with product, ops, and customers.

Responsibilities

• Identify and build relationships with high-quality startups across the space ecosystem.
• Develop and manage a global pipeline of suppliers and engage founders, technical leaders, and commercial teams.
• Guide startups through onboarding onto the platform and define their offerings for contracts.
• Structure how components/services can be resold or bundled within multi-party solutions.
• Collaborate with internal teams to integrate supplier capabilities into large system-level solutions.

Skills

Business development

Partnerships

Ecosystem building

Relationship management

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

CRM tools

Job description

About Nebex

Nebex is building institutional-grade market infrastructure for the global space economy. We enable governments, enterprises, prime contractors, startups, and commercial participants to discover, procure, contract, and execute complex space-related transactions through a unified market and intelligence layer.

About The Job

Nebex is building institutional-grade market infrastructure for the global space economy. We enable governments, enterprises, prime contractors, startups, and commercial participants to discover, procure, contract, and execute complex space-related transactions through a unified market and intelligence layer. We combine procurement infrastructure, market operations, verification systems, and data-driven intelligence to improve how space capabilities are sourced, financed, and delivered across jurisdictions. We are focused on enabling scalable coordination across the global space ecosystem, unlocking more efficient execution, better capital allocation, and improved delivery outcomes.

Position Overview

Nebex is entering a phase of accelerated growth that requires relentless focus on market development and ecosystem building. The Business Development Lead will be the first dedicated BD hire, stepping into a role where the foundations are already in place but the opportunity is vast. Your primary responsibility is to identify, engage, and onboard space startups and emerging companies as suppliers on our platform. You will work directly with technical founders to translate their capabilities into structured, market-ready offerings and position them to serve the broader demand we are activating. You will report to the Chief Operating Officer and work closely with our platform development, demand-side, and market operations teams. This is a high-impact, foundational role. You will shape how the platform sources and integrates the core capabilities that power our ecosystem. If you thrive in a fast-moving environment, are energized by startup relationships and market development, and want to build a supply network that underpins a new infrastructure layer for the space economy, this role is for you.

Responsibilities

• Identify and build relationships with high-quality startups across the space ecosystem, including satellites, payloads, subsystems, ground infrastructure, data services, launch services, and in-orbit capabilities
• Develop and manage a global pipeline of suppliers, engaging founders, technical leaders, and commercial teams
• Guide startups through onboarding onto the platform, ensuring their offerings are clearly defined, structurally usable within contracts, and discoverable within the ecosystem
• Work with suppliers to structure how their components and services can be resold, bundled, and reused within multi-party solutions
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure supplier capabilities can be integrated into larger system-level solutions and deployed across multiple buyers and use cases
• Build depth across critical capability areas to support end-to-end solutions and identify gaps in the supplier ecosystem
• Work closely with platform development, demand-side, and market operations teams to align supply with customer needs and improve supplier onboarding flows and platform usability
• Represent the platform across startup ecosystems, accelerators, venture portfolios, and industry events
• Build relationships with investors, incubators, and strategic partners, positioning Nebex as the default route to market for space startups

What Success Looks Like

• A strong pipeline and consistent onboarding of high-quality space startups
• Broad and deep coverage across key capability categories
• Suppliers actively participating in platform-driven contracts
• Ability to assemble complete, end-to-end solutions from the supply network
• Platform recognized as a key distribution and execution layer for the space ecosystem

Qualifications Required

• 4-8+ years of business development, partnership, or ecosystem building experience
• Demonstrated ability to engage technical founders and translate capabilities into commercial offerings
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, early-stage environment with significant autonomy
• Strong track record building and maintaining relationships across founders, investors, and technical teams
• Experience working across cross-functional teams to align business development with product, operations, and customer needs

Preferred

• Experience in space, aerospace, deep tech, or similarly complex and innovative sectors
• Prior BD or partnership role in a high-growth or early-stage company
• Genuine passion for the space economy and the infrastructure being built around it

About Our Environment

Nebex operates in a high-performance environment where expectations are elevated and outcomes matter. We look for individuals who take full ownership of their work, proactively driving results without waiting for direction and holding themselves accountable for outcomes. The pace of the company requires exceptional learning velocity, the ability to rapidly understand new domains, systems, and challenges and translate that understanding into execution. Strong judgment is critical; candidates must be able to make sound, independent decisions with incomplete information and under time pressure. We value people who are relentlessly execution-focused, prioritizing results over process and consistently delivering against ambitious goals. The environment is often ambiguous and fast-changing, so comfort operating without clear structure is essential. Clear, direct communication is expected at all levels. Nebex is a team of high performers and every individual is expected to raise the standard. This means collaborating effectively, maintaining a high level of professionalism, and contributing to a culture of accountability, intensity, and continuous improvement. We look forward to meeting you.