Chief Technology Officer – Munich or Berlin

• Chief Technology Officer – Munich or Berlin
• Dan Dorrington
• Job Type: Permanent, Full time
• Working setup: Hybrid, with European / US travel where necessary

Industry Sector: New Space, Earth Observation, Satellite Data, Satellite Hardware.

Salary / Package: Excellent Salary, relocation package, share options.

Introduction

Talent-Relay has exclusively partnered with a rapidly scaling, international Earth observation company dedicated to leveraging satellite technology to address global challenges related to climate resilience, security, and sustainability.

With offices across Europe and North America, their multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, and business leaders are shaping the future of space-based intelligence.

The role

As CTO, you will own and lead the company’s technical vision, strategy, and execution, overseeing the development of both hardware and software solutions.

You will guide the organisation through its next growth phase, driving innovation, industrialisation, and scalability to deliver world‑class products and services.

Leading the development, production, and deployment of a proprietary satellite constellation.

• Building and scaling a robust data platform and analytics pipeline to support mission‑critical applications in sectors such as climate, agriculture, infrastructure, and defence.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute a long-term technology strategy and roadmap, aligned with commercial and dual-use market needs.
• Oversee the full lifecycle of satellite hardware (platforms, payloads) and software (data processing, APIs, analytics) development.
• Ensure end-to-end reliability, security, and performance across all systems and services.
• Drive industrialisation of hardware production and strengthen supplier ecosystems to ensure cost efficiency and risk mitigation.
• Foster technical excellence, agile execution, and cross-team collaboration across engineering, product, and science functions.
• Build a scalable technical organisation, including leadership across engineering, data, software, and ground segment teams.
• Deliver next‑generation, flight‑ready satellites with a focus on mission success and data quality.
• Develop a scalable, modular data pipeline from satellite tasking to API delivery.
• Build architectures and services that meet commercial and defence‑grade requirements.
• Establish standards and strategies for next‑gen satellite production to support company growth and fundraising milestones.
• Create and manage a unified product and technology roadmap to balance performance, cost, and scalability.
• Formalise governance and prioritisation across hardware and software teams.
• Define and track technical KPIs, including performance, data quality, and cost‑efficiency metrics.
• Support investor due diligence and technical positioning for future funding rounds.
• Personality Profile
• This is a functional role, and the successful CTO will need a demonstrable background of enabling technology functions to achieve great things.
• Be the “glue” that binds the technical organisation together.
• You will need excellent communication skills, enabling the flow of information across the technology function and C‑Suite.
• You will need to be solution focussed and possess a can‑do attitude, solving complex technical problems.

Working out how the business can make it happen, rather than why it cannot.

• Dynamic – able to understand the demands, pressure, and fluidity of a scale‑up environment.
• Possess an entrepreneurial mindset and strong business acumen.

Skills & Requirements

• Proven leadership ideally in satellite systems engineering, mission architecture, or aerospace product development, from early‑stage to scale.
• Strong expertise in Earth observation platforms and payloads, particularly optical and thermal infrared.
• Experience working with dual‑use, government, or defence customers in security‑sensitive contexts.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver aerospace or space systems to industrial and sovereign‑grade standards (e. g., ECSS, MIL‑SPEC, ISO).
• Hands‑on leadership in cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, analytics, or ML systems.
• Track record of thriving in high‑growth, ambiguous environments, with experience in cross‑functional prioritisation.
• Exceptional communication skills, able to engage effectively with stakeholders from engineers to board members.
• Preferred Skills
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams spanning hardware, software, and data science.
• Familiarity with modular satellite architectures, commercial off‑the‑shelf (COTS) integration, and space‑to‑ground systems.
• Experience supporting Series B+ fundraising or investor technical due diligence.
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