AI for Space is Loft’s newest business unit, focused on building the Loft Mission Store - an open platform where AI companies publish models, satellite operators deploy them in orbit, and the system delivers structured intelligence rather than raw imagery. The team is lean, the ambition is significant, and the satellites are already operational.
As Director, AI Partnerships EMEA, you own commercial development of Loft’s AI Marketplace across France and the broader region, driving partnerships with AI companies, system integrators, and defense primes to deploy models on Loft’s satellite infrastructure or embed Loft’s AI capabilities into their programs. You serve as the primary interface to the European sovereign AI ecosystem - including DGA, CNES, Bpifrance, CNRS, and key defense and intelligence stakeholders - shaping space-based AI initiatives. Working closely with the Head of AI Engineering, you translate technical capabilities into compelling partner value propositions and feed partner insights into the product roadmap, while also building cross-constellation partnerships to enable advanced sensor fusion solutions.
About this role:
Build and manage a pipeline of AI Marketplace partnerships across France and EMEA.
Identify and qualify AI companies, integrators, and defense primes for platform integration.
Lead commercial negotiations from first meeting through signed partnership agreement.
Represent Loft in the French sovereign AI and defense ecosystem (DGA, CNES, BPI, and adjacent institutions).
Develop cross-constellation partnership opportunities (SAR, thermal, RF providers for sensor fusion use cases, with the likes of ICEYE).
Translate technical platform capabilities into clear, compelling partner value propositions.
Surface partner inputs back to the product and engineering roadmap.
Work with product and engineering to shape the partner onboarding experience.
Track competitive landscape and feed insights back into go-to-market positioning.
Must Haves:
5-10 years in business development, partnerships, or sales in technology, defense, or aerospace.
Existing network in French defense, space, or AI ecosystems.
Track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Ability to understand and articulate technical products to non-technical buyers (and the reverse).
Fluent in French and English.
Comfortable operating with high autonomy in a fast-growing company.
Nice to Haves:
Direct experience with sovereign or classified programs (French or European).
Background in satellite services, Earth observation, or geospatial analytics.
Experience working with system integrators (Thales, Airbus, Leonardo).
Some of our Awesome Benefits:
- Equity, we want you to have an active role in our success
- Up to 35 days of Paid Time Off (vacations & RTT ) and flexible working hours, we want you to be at your best
- Health and life insurance, we care about your health
- Lunch Vouchers, because let’s be honest, we love food! (we even have a slack channel about it #loft-gourmand)
- Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado, and Toulouse to learn from our differences
- Company and team off-sites and many other events to work & celebrate together
- Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable
Skills Required
- 5-10 years in business development, partnerships, or sales in technology, defense, or aerospace.
- Existing network in French defense, space, or AI ecosystems.
- Track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships.
- Ability to understand and articulate technical products to non-technical buyers (and the reverse).
- Fluent in French and English.
- Comfortable operating with high autonomy in a fast-growing company.
- Direct experience with sovereign or classified programs (French or European).
- Background in satellite services, Earth observation, or geospatial analytics.
- Experience working with system integrators (Thales, Airbus, Leonardo).
What We Do
Space Made Simple. We are a true end-to-end service provider letting our customers rapidly deploy and operate their payloads on reliable high-performance satellites at an unprecedented simplicity and affordability.
