Future Astronaut Experience & Community Manager

Virgin Galactic www.VirginGalactic.com (SPCE:NYSE) Virgin Galactic recognizes that the answers to many of the challenges we face in sustaining life on our beautiful but fragile planet, lie in making better use of space.

Sending people to space has not only expanded our understanding of science, but taught us amazing things about human ingenuity, physiology and psychology.

From space, we are able to look with a new perspective both outward and back. From space, the borders that are fought over on Earth are arbitrary lines. From space it is clear that there is much more that unites than divides us.

“We are at the vanguard of a new industry determined to pioneer twenty-first century spacecraft, which will open space to everybody — and change the world for good.”  Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Galactic

The Astronaut Office exists to look after a unique community of Future Astronaut customers who have paid significant deposits up-front to travel to space with Virgin Galactic. The Astronaut Office is responsible for engaging and informing those customers, and building a strong sense of community. It works to maintain excitement in the project as the company makes the final preparations for the start of commercial spaceflight operations. In some ways, the team is responsible for managing the most exclusive club in the world.

Tasks and Responsibilities:  

• Manage the onboarding process for new Future Astronauts. This is a multi-month, multi-step journey to inform and engage new joiners, with an overall objective to successfully assimilate them into the Future Astronaut community
• Deliver a seamless experience, from first touchpoint as a new Future Astronaut and through their first few months in the community
• Spend significant time speaking with and emailing new Future Astronauts to support their onboarding journeys, with regular check-ins via different channels
• Build a communications strategy to educate new Future Astronauts on the project and the community
• Design and deliver events specifically for the new Future Astronauts, to give an inside track to Virgin Galactic’s operations and a direct line to senior team members
• Foster the sense of community and connection, by introducing new and existing Future Astronauts in their local areas or in line with shared interests
• Arrange the delivery of physical assets to the Future Astronauts to welcome them onboard
• Work closely with the Astronaut Office to ensure each phase of information gathering and distribution is completed on the front end and back end
• Work closely with the CRM team to integrate the front end and back end of the onboarding journey, with an eye on continuously improving and streamlining to incorporate latest learning
• As onboarding completes, transition into a wider Astronaut Office role to support the ongoing management and engagement of the Future Astronaut community. This involves:
  • Supporting the day-to-day communications with the Future Astronauts
  • Contributing to the multi-channel communications strategy to keep Future Astronauts informed and engaged on the project and community
  • Design and deliver events that target different interests and geographies within the community, with an objective of engaging as many Future Astronauts as possible
  • General support for the Astronaut Office across all elements of the team and stages of the customer journey

Customer Data Management:

• Work closely with the CRM team to ensure a consistent and joined up CRM strategy, supporting both internal processes and the experience for Future Astronauts
• Ensure Future Astronaut Salesforce records are consistently kept up to date, particularly following any engagement activities

Customer Journey:

• As a voice of the customer, provide input to key customer touchpoints such as flight suits, wings, missions patches and other customer experience elements
• Support the team on Astronaut readiness plans and rollout, as we start to prepare Future Astronauts for flight
• Input to strategic plans to evolve the Future Astronaut community and build on the foundations we have in place for the future
• Support the development of the Alumni community, which our customers will join as newly flown Astronauts, to continue their journey and experience with Virgin Galactic

• Experience in at least two previous senior roles with exposure to senior management and customers
• Creative and resourceful in customer engagement management
• Proven event management - from conception to delivery to reconciliation
• Exemplary written communication skills
• Previous high net worth customer relations experience
• Ability to undertake international travel
• Willing to work outside normal office hours (our customers come from more than 50 countries)
• Excellent eye for detail and lover of logistics
• Flexible with the ability to multitask and drive progress
• Relish being the point of contact for numerous projects involving multiple stakeholders
• Sociable with strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Proactive intuitive and able to work under pressure with minimal supervision; strong Organisational and time management skills
• Experience of Salesforce CRM

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.15) or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

As part of our commitment to health and safety, COVID-19 vaccines are required for current U.S. teammates, as well as all newly hired employees. 

As of October 1, 2021, all new hires must be able to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, ( “fully vaccinated” means at least two weeks have expired since receiving the vaccination’s last dose as recommended by the manufacturer) . If  you are offered employment, this requirement must be met by your date of hire. 

Virgin Galactic is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Virgin Galactic is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

As part of our commitment to health and safety, COVID-19 vaccines are required for current U.S. teammates, as well as newly hired employees.

 As of October 1, 2021, all new hires must be able to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19virus, (“fully vaccinated” means at least two week have expired since receiving the vaccination’s last dose as recommended by the manufacturer).  If you are offered employment, this requirement must be met be your date of hire.  Virgin Galactic complies with federal, state, and local laws with regard to accommodations related to this policy.