Co-Executive Director, VP of Industry Integration

We are looking for a Co-Executive Director, VP Industry Integration who is passionate about our mission and excels in partnership cultivation, organisational growth, program development, and stakeholder engagement. This role is vital to advancing the impact of our initiatives, fostering key relationships, and driving fundraising success. You will guide the maturation of innovative projects, enhancing industry connections, and representing Open Lunar Foundation to donors, partners, and broader audiences. This role is both demanding and rewarding, ideal for someone with proven leadership experience and a drive to make a significant difference in the field. Relevant experience may include RnD roles in other lunar organizations.

As an alternative, we are also considering purely Executive Director applicants. You'll see the options in the form.

About Open Lunar Foundation

Open Lunar is a 501c3 non-profit organization with a growing international community of lunar and adjacent field experts. Our team and community bring diverse experiences and perspectives, working together to achieve our mission. 

• Vision: A peaceful, cooperative human presence on the Moon for the benefit of all life, with diverse participants and a governance system driven by stakeholders. This approach values both the Moon’s intrinsic worth and practical uses, serving as a model for responsible human expansion.

• Strategy: Develop key public good infrastructure that influences early lunar governance, setting standards for how governance will evolve by embedding important values into utility operations.

• Mission: Launch and mature infrastructure projects tackling lunar challenges (e.g., dust, tech interoperability, ownership), while demonstrating good governance. These efforts should involve a global community and promote shared leadership beyond US dominance.

• Method: Use an innovation program blending funding, talent, and ideas to turn concepts into projects with traction, following an RnD Lab/accelerator/incubator/studio approach.

With only three staff, and ~10 contract roles, Open Lunar has an outsized impact and is regularly turned to for support from space agencies and heads of state. Our reach is substantial, and we are both a ‘voice’ and a ‘builder’. The organization involves 50 contributors in the annual innovation processes, along with 87 formal advisors and 75 volunteers, who collectively contribute 420 hours annually. We incubate 5-10 projects at any time.

Position Overview

The Co-Executive Director, VP of Industry Integration is a pivotal leadership role responsible for advancing development of key tech, policy and infrastructure projects, fostering partnerships within the space industry, and driving substantial fundraising efforts to ensure the organization’s growth and sustainability. This role will work closely with the Co-Executive Director (Co-ED) and the board, managing critical stakeholder relationships, building credibility for Open Lunar’s work, and significantly scaling fundraising capacity. This role requires a leader with a collaborative approach, capable of translating strategy into actionable outcomes and building meaningful connections across sectors.

The Director will oversee the maturation of initiatives by activating partnerships, aligning funding opportunities, and driving community engagement. They will dedicate significant time to cultivating relationships with prominent industry leaders, donors, and institutions while collaborating with fundraising experts to triple the organization’s annual revenue. As a champion for Open Lunar’s story and perception, the Director will represent the foundation in diverse venues, refine narratives and strategies for maximum impact, and document key insights to ensure team cohesion. 

Job Duties

Co-Management & Shared Decision-Making

• Collaborate closely with the Co-ED to co-manage the organization, ensuring that strategic decisions, resource allocations, and key initiatives are undertaken jointly and transparently, leveraging each other’s strengths and perspectives.

Project Development & Industry Integration

• Take hands-on responsibility for the maturation of projects in concept and initiative stages through coaching, activating partnerships, and seeking aligned funding opportunities.

• Activate potential partnerships as opportunities arise to benefit projects and the organization as a whole.

Community Connection

• Actively develop external relationships with prominent leaders in the space industry across relevant sub-sectors and specialities.

• Focus on fostering institutional partnerships and creating fundraising opportunities for the foundation.

Fundraising & Growth

• Dedicate substantial time to cultivating fundraising-related relationships.

• Work closely with fundraising experts, the Co-ED, and the board to strengthen existing support processes, with the goal of increasing annual revenue by 3x as soon as possible.

Knowledge Management & Learning

• Document, maintain, and collate insights and relationships to ensure team cohesion and continuity.

• Foster a humble, collaborative approach, leveraging team strengths to advance the mission.

Champion Story and Perception Management

• Elevate Open Lunar’s credibility and presence in the industry through targeted messaging and consistent representation in relevant venues and communities, including frequent travel.

• Collaborate with the Co-ED and board to continuously refine organizational narratives and strategies to achieve the best impact across various audience segments.

Stakeholder Management

• Manage board and donor relationships with support from the Co-ED.

• Take ownership of board meeting processes, reporting, and donor communication to ensure transparency and alignment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in proven leadership positions, including successful co-leadership experience, with a preference for small or start up policy, tech, or science-driven organizations.

• Experience leading non-profit organizations, with a strong track record of fundraising 500k-1M annually, with emphasis on major donor development and corporate partnerships.

• Demonstrated ability to foster an inclusive, forward-thinking culture that encourages bold experimentation, innovative problem-solving, and creative collaboration across teams and stakeholders.

• Strong ability to self manage and project manage in a fast-paced environment.

• Strong financial acumen, as it pertains to overseeing budget development with team input, and setting realistic/achievable income targets.

• Comfortable working and managing remotely with asynchronous tools such as Slack, G Suite, Zoom, Asana, and Canva.

• Our ideal candidate would have deep understanding or direct experience within the space community or related fields. At minimum, familiarity with complex, highly specialized sectors—such as economic policy, scientific research, or R&D in hardware/software domains.

• Strong alignment with organizational values, such as being highly collaborative and open, never working in silos, not afraid to ask for help, demonstrates ownership, diligence and rigor.

• Ability to quickly absorb and comprehend complex ideas and leverage the expertise of others.

• Track record of being quick to change when given feedback, and a passion for learning about self and others.

• Fluent in English; proficiency in additional languages is an asset.

• Ability to manage dynamic workload, and prioritise effectively, ensuring that the demands of this role are met fully.

Work Specifics 

• Our team operates remotely, and we rely on tools like Slack, Zoom, and Google Suite for collaboration.

• Our primary working hours align with Eastern Time (ET). Although team members are spread across Pacific (PT) and Central European (CET) time zones, working outside these regions is possible. The key requirement is a commitment to being online and available during core ET hours.

• This is a full time position, with flexibility around work hours. You’ll manage your schedule and coordinate with the team to make work and family or personal commitments balanced.

• This position requires flexibility to take occasional calls outside typical work hours, especially if based in a time zone outside of North America.

• In our team we appreciate openness, transparency,  collaboration, flexibility, respect, and empathy. 

Compensation

• Salary range: $115,000-125,000 USD, depending on experience and location.

• Health benefits. If you are in the US, we offer a Health Care Reimbursement covering 100% of your healthcare premiums,  if you’re outside of the US we will design a healthcare package with you through our global HR platform, and we cover 100% of basic healthcare premiums.

• Office and ergonomic equipment stipend, annual continued education opportunities. .

• Unlimited  PTO, with an expected total leave of 4-6 weeks per year including a full organizational shut down in the two weeks crossing Christmas and New Years.