Appointment of VP, Logistics Products, their first external Executive hire, to manage their $250m contract with Axiom, act as Program Director for the mission, and oversee Spacecraft design.
Search firm for Space
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The only reliable way to make mission-critical hires.
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Flight-proven
Mission-critical hires, delivered
Three Space companies. Three hires they could not get to orbit without. Two of them on film.
Appointment of Radar Systems Manager and talent mapping for their Principal Engineers (Weather or Space Radar Development) and Principal Scientists (L0-L1 Data Processing).
Multiple leadership relocations from Europe, where the required Space skills don’t exist locally in Canada, including Director of Satellite Systems, RF Systems Manager, and GNC Lead.
Houston, You have a problem
Space is hard. There’s lots to be done. And you can’t do it alone.
The only way you’re going to get there is by building an exceptional team.
Which means your #1 responsibility is to hire great people.
And with more Space companies than ever before, the competition has never been higher.
The Current State of Space
- 01 /Your people are now your biggest competitive advantage, even more so than your tech.
- 02 /Every headcount matters and you now need to achieve even more with even less.
- 03 /Hiring great people is now both more important and more difficult.
What goes wrong
Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
01 /
Failure to Hire
You can’t get to orbit alone. You need someone so you hire anyone; forget great, “good” is enough, and you end up choosing the best of a bad bunch, again.
02 /
Failure to Deliver
Not anyone can get to Space and “good” can’t solve great problems. You don’t have enough of the right people and you start missing deadlines and defaulting on programmes.
03 /
Failure to Launch
Turns out headcount is your biggest cost center, and you’ve got a lot of dead weight. You’re now losing bids and bleeding customers. Your runway is evaporating and you can’t get new investment.
Get This Wrong and it's Game Over.
Old Space
Your mission-critical hires are the ones that you can’t get to orbit without.
These are typically your Executive, Management, and niche Technical positions.
The ones that require Space heritage i.e. are flight-proven.
And yet you’re treating them like any other hire.
Hiring Manager DIY
Works if you know what you’re looking for, if that’s easy to find, and if you have the time.
Pros
Cons
Only one stakeholder...
...whose expertise lies elsewhere.
Cost Effective...
...but time-cost ineffective.
Quick decisions...
...made only from applicants.
Conclusion
Not suitable for your mission-critical hires.
Referrals
Works if you need to make a good hire quickly that fits well with the team.
Pros
Cons
Invaluable...
...when you can get them.
Likely to fit in...
...but unlikely to stand out.
Easier to close...
...but riskier if they go wrong.
Conclusion
Not suitable for your mission-critical hires.
Internal TA
Works for a high volume of standard positions when hiring is steady over several years.
Pros
Cons
Experts of your business...
...but not market experts.
Cheaper than an agency...
...but expensive when not hiring.
Can hire for any position...
...but not every position.
Conclusion
Not suitable for your mission-critical hires.
Agency
Works for making standard hires quickly and if you want a free look at active talent.
Pros
Cons
Lots of candidates...
...but few that fit.
Targeted on speed...
...but not on quality.
No win, no fee...
...no commitment.
Conclusion
Not suitable for your mission-critical hires.
The process
Dedicated Launch
Our Dedicated Launch™ leads you through a 5-step process to help you Define, Identify, Attract, Assess, and Close, your mission-critical hires.
Built using best-in-class Executive Search methodologies, and tailored to the needs of the Space industry, it ensures you make the best hiring decision available to you, from the market, every time.
Ignition
Lift-Off
Stage 1
Stage 2
Deployment
01. Ignition
Two-hour consultation to Define the work that needs to be done, how to Attract people to come and do it for you, and what you should Assess them against.
Requirements: Capacity Plan and Work Packages review to Define what you need someone to do.
Incentives: Position-specific USP development to best Attract people to come and do the work for you.
Test Plan: Tailored interview process construction to Assess candidates against your technical and cultural competencies.
02. Lift-Off
Best practice headhunting to Identify everyone who could do the work, Attract them to come and do it for you, and Assess them against it.
Talent Mapping: 1-2 weeks’ worth of Market Research to Identify a complete Talent Map of everyone who could do the work.
Headhunting: Two-week Go-to-Talent-Market (GTTM) Strategy™ to Attract people to do the work for you.
Evaluation: One-hour interview with each candidate to Assess them against the work, scorecarded to display suitability.
Project Delivery: All information collated in your final Search Report, including Candidate Profiles and all Market Intelligence.
03. Stage 1
Search Debrief and Initial interviews to Assess people against the work.
Debrief: Two-hour review of the Talent Map and Search Report, highlighting the challenges, market insights, and the candidates that made the Longlist.
Longlist to Shortlist: Final decisions regarding which candidates should proceed to initial interviews.
Initial Interviews: Hiring Manager screens of Shortlisted candidates to initially Assess them against the work.
04. Stage 2
Final interviews to Assess people against the work.
Feedback: Hiring Manager screens debrief to decide which candidates should proceed to final interviews.
Final Panel Interviews: Full candidate assessment across technical and cultural competencies, spotlighting candidates’ relevant achievements.
Referencing: Direct and indirect reference checks to confirm suitability and verify accomplishments.
05. Deployment
Offer Management to Close people to do the work.
Review: Final session to analyse the options, and consult on the best hiring decision, available to you, from the market.
Close: Conducting opportunity reviews for candidates affirming long-term fit, including leading negotiations through pre-close, close, and any counter-offers.
Onboarding: Candidate management through resignation, notice period, and relocation, as well as assistance with onboarding strategy.
01. Ignition
Two-hour consultation to Define the work that needs to be done, how to Attract people to come and do it for you, and what you should Assess them against.
Requirements: Capacity Plan and Work Packages review to Define what you need someone to do.
Incentives: Position-specific USP development to best Attract people to come and do the work for you.
Test Plan: Tailored interview process construction to Assess candidates against your technical and cultural competencies.
02. Lift-Off
Best practice headhunting to Identify everyone who could do the work, Attract them to come and do it for you, and Assess them against it.
Talent Mapping: 1-2 weeks’ worth of Market Research to Identify a complete Talent Map of everyone who could do the work.
Headhunting: Two-week Go-to-Talent-Market (GTTM) Strategy™ to Attract people to do the work for you.
Evaluation: One-hour interview with each candidate to Assess them against the work, scorecarded to display suitability.
Project Delivery: All information collated in your final Search Report, including Candidate Profiles and all Market Intelligence.
03. Stage 1
Search Debrief and Initial interviews to Assess people against the work.
Debrief: Two-hour review of the Talent Map and Search Report, highlighting the challenges, market insights, and the candidates that made the Longlist.
Longlist to Shortlist: Final decisions regarding which candidates should proceed to initial interviews.
Initial Interviews: Hiring Manager screens of Shortlisted candidates to initially Assess them against the work.
04. Stage 2
Final interviews to Assess people against the work.
Feedback: Hiring Manager screens debrief to decide which candidates should proceed to final interviews.
Final Panel Interviews: Full candidate assessment across technical and cultural competencies, spotlighting candidates’ relevant achievements.
Referencing: Direct and indirect reference checks to confirm suitability and verify accomplishments.
05. Deployment
Offer Management to Close people to do the work.
Review: Final session to analyse the options, and consult on the best hiring decision, available to you, from the market.
Close: Conducting opportunity reviews for candidates affirming long-term fit, including leading negotiations through pre-close, close, and any counter-offers.
Onboarding: Candidate management through resignation, notice period, and relocation, as well as assistance with onboarding strategy.
One small step
Tell us what you need to get to orbit.
One message. One reply from a Partner within a working day, and it is the same Partner who takes you from ignition to deployment.
FAQs
Q.01How do you work?
Don’t worry, this won’t be fobbed off to some graduate researcher, or outsourced to some 3rd-party agency, or automated with some proprietary AI technology.
Every Search Project is managed by one of our Partners.
Each Partner only supports a couple of Search Projects at a time.
Typical Searches take between 4-6 weeks from start to shortlist.
You’ll also join weekly Ground Control meetings throughout the search to help steer your Launch, giving full transparency on the Search, access to live market data, and allowing us to tackle challenges in real-time.
Q.02Will this work for me?
Yes. This is your Dedicated Launch™ so we’ll work with you to define all aspects of the Search.
Making sure that requirements are properly set, timelines have been agreed, and any additional accommodations have been made (i.e. what market intelligence you’re interested in).
That being said, this is primarily for your mission-critical hires.
Might be a bit overkill for your more standard positions.
Q.03Why are you so expensive?
Because this isn’t the last slot on a Rideshare programme.
This is your Dedicated Launch™
Purpose-built to get your payload to orbit on time.
We’re not promising to try, we’re committing to delivering.
Q.04Why don’t you have a job board?
If you could make these mission-critical hires using a job board 1) you wouldn’t be here and 2) we’d happily tell you.
You’re not looking to outsource some admin.
Job boards sit around waiting for people to come to you.
We map the talent markets from scratch and go to them. Every time.
During a Presidential visit to NASA in 1962,
JFK: “And what do you do?”
Janitor: “I’m helping put man on the Moon.”
AstroTalent, here to play our part in Space.