---
title: 'International Capture Director at Varda Space Industries'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/international-capture-director-varda-space-industries-huntsville-alabama-nw5kyzhwp6zg'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-17'
---

# International Capture Director at Varda Space Industries

- **Company:** Varda Space Industries
- **Location:** Huntsville Alabama, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-09-16
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-17
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vardaspace/jobs/7984981003

## Job description

## About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

## About Varda

Varda Space Industries is pioneering the future of space-based manufacturing and terrestrial reentry technologies. We support a diverse portfolio of customers, from pharmaceutical companies leveraging microgravity for novel product development to domestic and international defense partners utilizing our Hypersonic and Reentry testbed. Our Reentry Targets offerings validate cutting-edge missile defense capabilities for the U.S. government, allied nations, private industry, and elite academic institutions globally.

## The Role

As the International Capture Director, you will serve as the strategic bridge between global Business Development and Mission Management, driving Varda’s expansion across the international defense, aerospace, and space intelligence markets. Based on-site in Huntsville, AL, you will own the end-to-end capture lifecycle for foreign opportunities, orchestrate complex cross-border campaigns, and continuously optimize our international capture processes and toolsets.

In this role, you will lead formal Color Team reviews, execute "Black Hat" competitive assessments for foreign and domestic customers, and architect sophisticated international Price-to-Win (PTW) strategies. You will directly accelerate the growth of Varda’s, Hypersonic Test Bed, Targets-as-a-Service (TaaS), and Orbital Cargo portfolio by securing multi-million dollar contracts with allied ministries of defense, international aerospace conglomerates, and global R&D entities.

## What You'll Do

- Global Opportunity Management: Identify, qualify, and capture high-value international defense solicitations across allied foreign governments, international defense agencies, and commercial aerospace R&D entities.
- Lifecycle Ownership: Assume full accountability for international proposals at the handoff gate, driving the strategy through US regulatory compliance, multi-nation evaluations, contract negotiation, and closure.
- Export & Regulatory Compliance: Apply deep expertise in Foreign Military Sales (FMS), Direct Commercial Sales (DCS), ITAR/EAR regulations, and international space treaties to structure compliant and secure international testbed, orbital cargo and target pursuits.
- Organic Global Growth: Partner with Mission Management to execute global "keep-sold" strategies, deepening penetration within existing international accounts and cross-border defense partnerships.
- Gate Reviews: Conduct rigorous global go/no-go assessments, evaluating international customer alignment, geopolitical risk, competitive positioning, and financial ROI.
- Competitive Intelligence: Analyze allied nations' defense budget documents and processes, procurement cycles, and geopolitical threat landscapes to map program schedules and funding profiles.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Coordinate with engineering, pricing, legal, and mission management to translate complex technical specs into winning proposal frameworks tailored for international clients.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Cultivate trusted, high-level relationships across foreign government agencies, US military attachés, US Embassies, and global private defense industry leaders to embed key discriminators into Varda's offerings.
- Market Visibility: Represent Varda as a global thought leader at premier international defense conferences, air shows (e.g., Paris, Farnborough), and global symposia to expand the brand's international footprint.

## Basic Qualifications

- Education: Bachelor’s degree in international business/marketing, Engineering, Science, Global Affairs, or a related technical discipline.
- Experience: 7+ years of dedicated capture management or business development experience within the international aerospace, defense, or national security technology sectors.
- Domain Expertise: Proven track record leading end-to-end international defense captures via FMS or DCS tracks from opportunity identification through contract award.
- Regulatory Mastery: Demonstrated experience navigating ITAR, EAR, export control compliance, and cross-border technology transfers.
- Leadership: Experience directing matrixed, cross-functional proposal teams, including engineering, pricing, legal, and international trade compliance officers.
- Communication: Exceptional written skills with a demonstrated ability to author compelling white papers, executive summaries, and technical proposals accessible to a global audience.
- Clearance: Active TS/SCI security clearance (or the ability to be fast-tracked for one).
- Travel: Ability to travel 35% – 50% of the time, including extensive international travel.
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizenship required to conform with ITAR and U.S. space technology export control regulations.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Strategic Studies, Global Security, or Engineering.
- Established professional network within allied defense ministries (e.g., Japan MoD, UK MoD, Australian DoD, NATO), global hypersonic communities, or international missile defense agencies.
- Familiarity with international space frameworks, multilateral defense agreements, and academic research funding mechanisms.
- Experience utilizing modern AI-driven capture tools and advanced prompt-engineering techniques to optimize international proposal workflows.

## Compensation & Benefits

- Base Salary Range: $215,000.00 - $240,000.00 / year (Final leveling and salary determined by skills, experience, and education).
- Incentives: Eligible for long-term incentives including stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
- Investment: Access to Incentive Stock (ISO/NSO) plans.
- Classification: Full-time, Exempt.
- Location: On-site, Huntsville, Alabama

## Benefits

Consider your benefits covered for launch. At Varda, we invest in benefits and perks that support your health, financial well-being, and life beyond work. Benefits vary by position, with packages designed specifically for our regular full-time employees and interns.

Regular Full-Time Positions:

Health & Wellness

- Flexible PTO policy + 12 paid holidays
- 100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans for employees and dependents with FSA and employer-matched HSA options
- Voluntary accident, hospital, critical illness, and pet insurance
- $120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness expenses
- 12 weeks of parental leave (with supplemental disability leave for CA mothers)
- Family building, pregnancy, parenting and menopause benefits via Maven Clinic
- Sponsored One Medical memberships for employees and their dependents

Financial & Retirement

- Substantial incentive equity in a fully funded space start-up
- 401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer match (immediately vested)
- $20/pay period cell phone reimbursement
- Relocation support for new hires, if needed

Workplace Experience & Perks

- Fully stocked kitchen with lunch provided daily and dinner provided twice weekly
- Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and mission-success celebrations
- Complimentary EV charging

Benefits for Internship Positions:

Health & Wellness

- Paid observed holidays.
- 100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans for employees and dependents with FSA and employer-matched HSA options.
- $120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness expenses.
- Sponsored One Medical memberships for employees and their dependents.

Financial

- $20/pay period cell phone reimbursement.
- Up to $4,000 gross up in relocation support, if eligible
- Up to $850 commute credit through Lyft or car rental reimbursement, if eligible.

Workplace Experience & Perks

- Fully stocked kitchen with lunch provided daily and dinner provided twice weekly
- Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and mission-success celebrations
- Complimentary EV charging

ITAR Requirements

Varda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

“US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).

E-Verify Statement

Varda Space Industries, Inc. participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the [E-Verify](https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-verify.gov%2Femployees%2Fe-verify-overview&data=05%7C01%7Ctyree%40varda.com%7C22201ef47a8142f3b0a708dbd0f6e47b%7C1b36161382e94a8784f78a213228882f%7C0%7C0%7C638333531041144158%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3toCq47V%2FiQtV%2B5rEKFG0tfg0yXkNTv4SuLE2Xy40Rk%3D&reserved=0) program.

E-Verify Notice                                                               Right To Work Notice

Read more                                                                             Read more

Varda Space Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, martial status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.

## About Varda Space Industries

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Varda Space Industries is building the first commercial orbital manufacturing and reentry infrastructure to produce materials in microgravity and return them to Earth for terrestrial benefit.
- **Entity Type**: Private (backed by major venture capital)
- **Headquarters**: El Segundo, California, USA (with an additional office in Washington, D.C.)
- **Founded**: January 2021
- **Founders**: Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Space infrastructure, biopharmaceutical manufacturing, microgravity research, government/defense
- **Target customers**: Biopharma companies (for drug development), government agencies (for hypersonic flight testing and research), academic and commercial microgravity researchers
- **Mission**: Expand the economic bounds of humankind by creating products and infrastructure so space can directly benefit life on Earth

## Products & Services
- **W-Series Spacecraft (W-1 through W-6)**: A free-flying orbital production satellite with integrated reentry capsule. Varda builds the entire spacecraft end-to-end in its El Segundo facility. The capsule reenters Earth’s atmosphere at Mach 25, lands via parachute, and is recovered with its payload for post-flight analysis. Missions serve pharmaceutical processing (heating, mixing, cooling in microgravity), government payloads, and autonomous hypersonic flight testing.
- **Orbital Pharmaceutical Processing Platform**: Purpose-built equipment that operates in orbit to produce novel crystal structures and formulations that are impossible to create on Earth.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not publicly disclosed, but the company has “significant backing” from world-class investors. A recent milestone is a research collaboration with United Therapeutics to advance microgravity-enabled treatments for rare pulmonary disease (announced via PRNewswire, 2025/2026).
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, Also Capital; collaboration with United Therapeutics
- **Growth Signals**: Six missions (W-1 through W-6) launched or announced; W-6 is the first launch of 2026; vehicle and heatshield built in-house; expanding workforce with ~94 open positions as of mid-2026

## Competitive Advantages
- **End-to-end ownership**: Varda designs, builds, integrates, and tests all vehicles and equipment in-house, enabling rapid iteration and high flight cadence.
- **First commercial reentry capability**: The W-Series is the first-ever commercial satellite and reentry vehicle built specifically for returning materials from orbit, completing the logistics chain from launch to recovery.
- **Experienced team**: Leadership and staff include veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies, and Silicon Valley.
- **Hypersonic flight heritage**: The capsule reenters at over 18,000 mph (Mach 25), providing a unique testbed for hypersonic and reentry technologies.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale orbital manufacturing**: Increase flight frequency and payload capacity to serve biopharma and government customers at commercial scale.
- **Deepen partnerships**: Expand collaborations with pharmaceutical companies (e.g., United Therapeutics) and government agencies for microgravity R&D and hypersonic testing.
- **Build infrastructure for the orbital economy**: Make reentry as common as launch, enabling a steady supply chain from space to Earth.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Varda describes itself as “bold,” “down to earth,” and “ambitious.” Employees work on unsolved problems across multiple fields, requiring confidence to forge new paths when there isn’t a known correct answer.
- **Work environment**: On-site roles at the El Segundo office and production facility. The team values technical rigor and a healthy dose of acumen, with conversations spanning polypeptide crystallization and ablation dynamics of thermal protection systems.
- **Benefits**: Competitive salaries, company equity, comprehensive benefits, catered meals. The company is an equal opportunity employer and seeks diverse backgrounds.
- **Growth opportunity**: With 94 current job openings (many in engineering, software, propulsion, payloads, and internships), Varda is actively scaling and offers the chance to build “the first industrial park off our home planet.”

## Sources
1. [varda.com/company](https://www.varda.com/company)
2. [varda.com/](https://www.varda.com/)
3. [varda.com/careers](https://www.varda.com/careers)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/vardaspace](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vardaspace)
5. [varda.com/platform](https://www.varda.com/platform)
6. [PRNewswire – Varda & United Therapeutics collaboration](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/varda-space-industries-and-united-therapeutics-collaborate-to-advance-microgravity-enabled-treatments-for-rare-pulmonary-disease-302770786.html)

## Other roles at Varda Space Industries

- [Principal Mechanisms Engineer - Payloads](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-bsktgasj3j4h) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Principal Fluid Systems Engineer - Payloads](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-fluid-systems-engineer-payloads-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-7vcckcnz7b6y) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Senior Mechanisms Engineer - Payloads](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-california-4arkk7f52k7t) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Mechanisms Engineer - Payloads](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanisms-engineer-payloads-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-california-rst99pa4pvc8) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Senior Fluid Systems Engineer - Payloads](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-fluid-systems-engineer-payloads-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-v119txfqgvtq) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Ground Support Equipment, Design Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/ground-support-equipment-design-engineer-ii-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-fpnbrrebn8pc) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Senior Terrestrial Automation and Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-terrestrial-automation-and-controls-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-rk304dt4pvcy) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Terrestrial Automation and Controls Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/terrestrial-automation-and-controls-engineer-ii-varda-space-industries-el-awqhcpwq8t3j) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Space Electrical Systems Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/space-electrical-systems-engineer-ii-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-qqd5tydkqj2z) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Senior Space Avionics Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-space-avionics-systems-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-rq3xn2najbaw) — El Segundo California, United States