Join our team to influence the future of the Moon
Project and Partnership Lead, Lunar Ledger
Apply here: https://openlunar.typeform.com/to/I3U8m0QJ
Location: Remote
Type: Full-time
Reports to: Executive Director
Travel: Moderate travel expected for conferences, workshops, and partner engagement
Compensation: Dependent on region, the expected range for this position is $70-80K in Denver, Colorado.
Contract: Full-Time Employee,
Important note: We are looking to fill this role ASAP. As a result, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with reviews starting right away. To ensure your application gets reviewed, please don’t wait to apply.
About Open Lunar
The Open Lunar Foundation is building the governance infrastructure needed for humanity’s return to the Moon. We work at the intersection of coordination, policy, technical systems, and stewardship to help shape a future in which lunar activity is more transparent, cooperative, and aligned with the long-term interests of humanity.
One of our core initiatives is the Lunar Ledger — a neutral, voluntary coordination platform designed to support information-sharing, transparency, and operational awareness across the growing lunar ecosystem. As more missions, operators, governments, and commercial actors head to the Moon, the Ledger helps reduce risk, improve coordination, and create the foundations for better governance.
The Role
Open Lunar is seeking a Project Manager and Partnership Lead to spearhead the Lunar Ledger’s growth and maturity, while supporting Open Lunar’s evolving portfolio of projects.
The Project Manager and Stakeholder Lead is critical to the development and execution of the Ledger project, especially in driving the Ledger through its next phase of maturity as both a coordination platform and a governance-enabling public good. The role manages product definition and development, overseeing external web developers and managing stakeholder inputs to drive product build. The Project Manager also enables product growth to ensure adoption across diverse stakeholders. This role requires fluency in the space sector — with a preference for experience working in a lunar context — along with excellent communication, high ownership, and the ability to operate effectively in an emerging field where the product, ecosystem, and strategy are all evolving simultaneously. This role is highly external-facing, requiring strong communication skills to support coordination with lunar operators and other stakeholders.
This role will report directly to the Executive Director. While primarily working on the Ledger project, it is expected that this role will support other projects in the Open Lunar portfolio.
Core Responsibilities
Project Management: Product Definition, Development, and Build
Serve as day-to-day lead for the Lunar Ledger program, with high ownership across strategy, narrative, execution, partnerships, and growth.
Define the Ledger’s product roadmap by translating inputs and feedback from various stakeholder groups (including the Ledger Advisory Board, Commercial Partners, Web Developers, Staff and Leadership, and the Open Lunar Foundation’s Board of Directors) into product requirements. This includes proactively identifying new feature development that will drive value with key stakeholder groups.
Ensure platform stability— drive feature development to support product resilience.
Perform user support and onboarding for new users.
Ensure the platform complies with cybersecurity, data management, and user management regulations in relevant jurisdictions.
Develop and manage detailed work plans for the Ledger project, using Asana to track deliverables and milestones.
Administer contracts for consultants working on the Ledger project.
Schedule, plan and facilitate team meetings, including agendas, documentation of decisions, and tracking action items.
Partnerships: Outreach & Engagement
Build partnerships to develop a pipeline and support ecosystem adoption by identifying, sourcing, and recruiting leading commercial lunar companies and other relevant stakeholders to join the Ledger platform and share mission data.
Lead outreach, relationship development, onboarding, and ongoing engagement with commercial, civil, academic, and institutional actors crucial to the success of the Ledger.
Support development and execution of team communication strategies and narrative to maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders.
Collaborate with Open Lunar’s Development Director and Executive Director to coordinate donor communications, funding proposals, reports, and timelines.
Lead analysis and reporting on project efficacy, to be published and shared with external stakeholders and to support internal reporting efforts.
Work with Open Lunar’s policy team to identify strategies for integration with nation states and the United Nations, and other leading international governance bodies.
Convene experts across the lunar industry, the scientific community, government stakeholders, and others to build a community that supports the Ledger project’s broader goals and adoption of the platform.
Secure and steward partnerships that strengthen the long-term value, legitimacy, and stability of the platform.
Represent Open Lunar and the Ledger in external meetings, workshops, panels, conferences, and strategic discussions.
Provide selective support to adjacent Open Lunar programs where technical and governance fluency is useful
What Success Looks Like
In the first 6–12 months, success in this role may include:
Helping successfully launch the Ledger’s public-facing next phase, including launching the public website, working with key partners, and managing external communications.
Clearly quantifying and communicating the Ledger’s impact and future strategy.
Strengthening and expanding the Ledger’s operator and partner pipeline.
Building trusted relationships with commercial and government stakeholders.
Advancing a credible roadmap for next-phase Ledger features and product development.
Supporting workshops, briefings, and engagement strategies that deepen adoption and relevance.
Helping position the Ledger for a stronger 2027 phase of product growth, new collaboration models, broader uptake, and sustainable funding pathway.
Ideal Candidate Profile
We know this is an unusual role, and we do not expect candidates to bring every qualification perfectly. We are looking for someone with strong alignment across most of the following areas:
Required / strongly preferred
4+ years of professional experience in the space sector, preferably with direct exposure to lunar missions, mission architecture, or relevant technical systems. If no space experience, 6+ years in adjacent communities.
Experience leading complex projects or portfolios with high ownership and many moving parts, or being “department of one”.
Experience developing partnerships, business development pipelines, or strategic collaborations.
Ability to build and manage external relationships with partners, stakeholders, and collaborators.
Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage credibly across technical, strategic, and policy-oriented audiences.
Strong organizational judgment and comfort operating in a fast-evolving environment.
Ability to synthesize user, product, and ecosystem needs into clear priorities and execution plans.
Demonstrated interest in governance, coordination, or institution-building in emerging domains.
Particularly valuable
Experience in product management, technical program leadership, or ecosystem-building roles.
Fluency with commercial space actors and industry dynamics.
Understanding of lunar governance, space policy, or international coordination issues.
Confidence representing an organization externally with senior stakeholders.
Experience working in startups, emerging technology environments, or mission-driven organizations where roles are fluid and strategy is still being built.
Manage multiple priorities at high cadence across product, partnerships, communications, and field engagement.
Who Will Thrive in This Role
This role is likely a strong fit for someone who is:
Highly collaborative, low ego, and team-oriented
Comfortable building while the system is still taking shape
Creative in developing new forms of partnership and collaboration
Strong at convening, connecting people, and turning ideas into concrete next steps
Energized by both the technical and institutional sides of lunar activity
Motivated by Open Lunar’s mission and by the idea of building third-party infrastructure that can shape governance outcomes over time
Able to hold their own with industry partners, technical experts, and senior stakeholders in different venues
Why This Role Matters
The Moon is becoming more active, more commercial, and more strategically contested. Coordination challenges are no longer hypothetical. The Lunar Ledger is one of Open Lunar’s most important efforts to respond early by building practical infrastructure that can reduce risk, support transparency, and influence the long-term norms of lunar activity.