Chief Strategy Officer — Space-Systems Division

The mandate

This space-systems division sees substantial international demand for satellite payloads, mission software, ground systems and through-life support. Its strongest domestic capabilities were developed under programmes with sensitive technology, supplier and data restrictions. The Chief Strategy Officer will design offerings, partnerships and technology boundaries suited to international markets while navigating export-control requirements.

The group is appointing a Chief Strategy Officer to make exportability part of portfolio design. The CSO will own divisional strategy, market selection, portfolio scenarios, partnerships, investment governance and strategic planning. Export control, security, engineering and legal functions retain independent authority. The CSO must ensure growth choices begin with lawful technology boundaries and customer mission, rather than seek exceptions after a bespoke solution has been sold.

This urgent replacement is not asked to make controls more permissive. The board wants a strategy that identifies where modular design, sovereign workshare, licensed production, service models or a different performance envelope can create an approvable offer. It also expects the executive to leave markets where policy, partner or economics cannot support responsible participation.

Scope and operating context

Based onsite in London, the role influences approximately 1,300 employees and material partners across the United Kingdom and a wider international region. The perimeter spans satellite and payload businesses, mission software, ground and support, business development, partnerships, corporate development and portfolio planning. Interfaces with government customers, engineering, security, export compliance, supply chain, finance and international country teams are central.

Space offerings combine hardware, software, algorithms, technical data, services and operational know-how. Different elements can carry different classifications, destinations, end-use restrictions and re-export conditions. A product labelled commercial may still include controlled components or knowledge. Strategy must use detailed release evidence, not marketing categories.

International customers increasingly seek sovereignty, local capability and assured support. Workshare can improve approval and customer value, but can also transfer sensitive know-how or create long-term configuration complexity. The division needs clear principles for what can be localised, what remains controlled and how continuing technical authority will operate.

First-year agenda

The first ninety days will establish a market and technology-release map. The CSO will connect priority countries and missions to product configurations, controlled elements, supplier restrictions, policy, end users, partner options, approval timing and full economics. Existing pursuits will be classified as executable, redesignable, speculative or unsuitable, with decisions on where to spend bid and engineering capacity.

The executive will define exportable reference architectures. Modules will separate releasable core capability, country-specific integration and controlled options. Engineering, security and export teams will document boundaries, interfaces, performance and required approvals. The aim is not a lowest-common-denominator product; it is a credible family that preserves sensitive advantage while meeting defined customer missions.

Market selection will use more than demand and defence spending. Criteria will include policy alignment, end use, procurement path, local industry, payment, programme duration, operating access, cyber and security environment, political durability and opportunity cost. The strategy will identify no-go conditions and signals that require re-evaluation.

Partnership models will be selected deliberately. Local prime, joint venture, licensed manufacture, integration partner and service provider each distribute control, economics and risk differently. The CSO will require diligence on ownership, security, capability, government relationships, subcontracting and future competition. Rights to data, tools, upgrades and derivative work will be explicit.

Export governance will enter the commercial funnel through stage gates. Before customer commitment, teams must know product scope, end user, end use, destination, parties, technology-release assumption and approval owner. Early exploratory dialogue can proceed within guardrails, but technical disclosure and binding terms require authorised release. Pipeline value will be discounted where approval or partner evidence is weak.

The CSO will establish a policy and approval scenario process. Country, mission, technology and stakeholder changes can alter feasibility over a long pursuit. Scenarios will show what can proceed under alternative release conditions, which investments remain useful and when to pause. The division will avoid allowing sunk bid cost to drive disclosure or commitment.

Portfolio investment will favour capabilities that improve both customer value and controlled reuse. Modular interfaces, configurable software, test environments, digital evidence and support tooling may reduce bespoke export effort. Investment cases will include certification, security, localisation, sustainment and configuration cost, not only development.

Sovereign support and lifecycle will be designed with the initial offer. Spares, updates, vulnerability response, technical assistance, mission data, operator access and end-of-life obligations must remain supportable within approvals. A sale that cannot be sustained responsibly over its programme horizon will not be counted as strategic growth.

By year-end, the division should have a smaller, higher-confidence international pipeline, several governed reference offers and explicit partner strategies for chosen markets. The board should understand where export control shapes competitive differentiation rather than viewing it only as delay.

Leadership responsibilities

The CSO will lead divisional strategy and present international portfolio choices to the group sponsor and board. They will ensure revenue ambition, technology advantage, policy and capacity are considered together. Independent export and security judgements will be protected, even when they invalidate a senior-sponsored pursuit.

They will build strategists and partnership leaders fluent in missions, architectures and controlled business. Country teams will receive clear authority and escalation. Strategy will stay involved until ownership transfers to an accountable programme rather than abandoning assumptions at bid approval.

The role will maintain senior dialogue with governments, agencies, industrial partners and advisers within authorised boundaries. It must protect controlled information, avoid commitments outside delegated authority and represent uncertainty honestly.

Measures of success

The executive committee will track qualified international pipeline by approval confidence, bids, wins, margin, cash, partner performance and engineering capacity. It will review pursuits stopped or redesigned before costly commitment and the reuse of approved configurations.

Governance measures include decision time, release assumptions confirmed, disclosure exceptions, end-use evidence, partner diligence and approval milestones. Portfolio health includes localisation cost, configuration count, lifecycle support and concentration by market or technology. Gross pipeline alone will not qualify as progress.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring 22–28 years in space, aerospace, defence, secure technology or international government markets. They must have shaped strategy and partnerships around export-controlled capability and carried recommendations into bids or programmes. Space mission and lifecycle knowledge is important.

The board will seek examples of redesigning an offering to become exportable, leaving a market despite demand and structuring sovereign workshare without transferring protected advantage. Candidates should understand export controls, security, architectures, partnerships, government procurement, programme economics and sustainment.

The successful CSO will be ambitious and disciplined. They must work credibly with engineers and control functions, challenge inflated pipelines and make a clear portfolio choice when policy and commercial evidence remain uncertain.

Compensation and appointment terms

The annual base range is GBP 250,000–340,000, supplemented by annual incentive and long-term participation. Reward will balance executable growth, portfolio discipline, compliance, partnership value and leadership depth. Final terms will reflect comparable international responsibility and verified forfeited awards.

Confidentiality

The division remains unnamed because missions, technologies, countries and approval positions are sensitive and may be controlled. Further detail will be limited by identity, conflict, nationality, authorisation and confidentiality requirements. Applications must exclude classified, export-controlled or proprietary programme material.