Testing Programs Manager
Test - Villeneuve, VD
The position
- Crew
- Test
- Location
- Villeneuve, VD
- Type of contract
- Full-time
Your role
PAVE Space is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving up to 4-ton payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours.
So, why now? Test benches across the kick stage's systems are converging on commissioning at the same time and several more are already in the pipeline. Without one person holding the timelines, the specs, and the cross-team interfaces, the whole qualification program waits. You'll bring order to that picture on a calendar counted in weeks, not quarters.
You will own
End-to-end timelines for every test bench project, from first concept through commissioning
Testing calendars that keep qualification campaigns on track across all kick stage systems
The interface between the test team and every design teams that depends on bench availability
Resource planning across all bench projects: people, hardware, facility time
Requirements and specification sheets for each bench, maintained as living documents
What we are looking for
3+ years of testing experience on complex technical hardware; you've been close to the rigs, not just the Gantt charts
Real technical literacy on test-bench design: you read, create, and maintain P&IDs; you know how valves, regulators, tanks, filters, and PRVs actually work; you understand procurement lead-times and installation constraints well enough to plan around them
General knowledge of certification requirements for test rigs
A track record of keeping timelines honest and processes lean; you add structure that helps, never structure that slows people down
Communication that works across teams with different priorities and vocabularies
Fluent English (our working language)
Nice to have: PED certification experience, understanding of testing needs for space systems (propulsion, satellite platforms), French language skills, or a background coordinating parallel hardware builds.
You will fit if
You treat the plan as a tool for the team, not a document for management. When reality shifts, you update the plan and tell people before they have to ask.
You'd rather walk to the test site and see the rig than send another status-request email.
You stay calm when three benches need attention the same week, because you already built the margin or you know exactly where to make the trade.
You keep things simple. A process that nobody follows is worse than no process at all.
This role is fully on-site, split between our office in Villeneuve (VD) and our test site in Chavalon, roughly 20 minutes away. It is early and demanding: some of these benches are being stood up for the first time, and bench-assembly peaks will mean real crunches. We'd rather you know that now.
What makes that worth it: Every qualification campaign across the kick stage will run through infrastructure you organized and kept on track. You'll see your planning turn into hardware that lights up, surrounded by a sharp team building the most ambitious space program in Switzerland.
Apply directly, or send this to the best programs person you know who'd rather run a test campaign than a slide deck.