Head of Strategic Operations

Job description

ROLE HIGHLIGHTS: - Head of Strategic Operations - Location: Lisbon, Portugal - Department: CEO Office - Reports to: CEO, ICEYE Portugal - Employment type: Permanent, full time - Workplace model: Hybrid (office first) - Employment is subject to applicable security screening (incl. SUPO, where required) WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS:   ICEYE Portugal is scaling on several fronts at once: a Lisbon Center of Excellence building AI-powered intelligence products, a satellite production facility ramping through 2027, ESA programmes, and a growing base of defence and civil protection customers. The CEO Office is the execution engine that keeps this coherent — taking ambiguous, cross-functional problems and landing them. You build and run that office: the operating rhythm, the strategic projects, and the small senior team behind them.   WHO WE ARE ICEYE is the world leader in sovereign intelligence from space. We deliver persistent monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth.   ICEYE owns the world's largest and most advanced SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite constellation. To our customers we provide intelligence with unmatched quality, latency and revisit times, in any weather, day or night. To governments who choose to operate their own constellation we provide this proven capability as a sovereign system.   ICEYE-built constellations serve customers in defence and intelligence, environmental monitoring, insurance and emergency management. We enable fast decisions that contribute to a safer future.   Founded and headquartered in Finland, ICEYE operates globally with over 1000 employees across Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. YOUR DAY-TO-DAY RESPONSIBILITIES Operating rhythm & governance - Design and run the operating cadence of ICEYE Portugal: weekly leadership rhythm, monthly business reviews, quarterly planning and OKRs. - Own executive reporting to ICEYE headquarters and prepare board-level and leadership material the CEO can stand behind. Strategic projects - Own high-stakes, cross-functional projects end to end. - Turn open-ended questions from the CEO into structured options, business cases and decisions with clear owners and deadlines. - Prepare briefings and position materials for engagements with ministries, armed forces, civil protection, ambassadors and ecosystem partners. Cross-functional execution - Unblock execution across engineering, GTM, the production facility and central functions: find the constraint, fix it, move on. - Represent the CEO in internal forums when needed. Team & ways of working - Hire, lead and develop the CEO Office team. - Set an AI-native standard for how the office works. - Handle sensitive company, customer and government information with complete discretion.   WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR Must haves: - 8+ years in strategy, operations, management consulting or scale-up leadership roles, with real ownership of outcomes. - Track record of running cross-functional programmes at executive level and getting them finished. - Strong analytical and financial fluency. - Crisp executive communication in Portuguese and English, written and spoken. - Experienced using AI tools daily to think, write, analyse and build. - Comfortable operating in a defence and dual-use environment, with the discretion that implies. - Comfortable operating at both the strategic and the practical level - Based in the Lisbon area or willing to relocate. Nice to haves: - Experience in space, aerospace, defence or other government-facing sectors. - Existing familiarity with the Portuguese public sector, defence and research ecosystem. - Top-tier consulting background (or equivalent) plus operating experience. - Prior chief of staff, CEO office or PMO leadership experience. - Experience scaling an organisation or subsidiary from fewer than 20 to 100+ people.   APPLICATION PROCESS - Screening - Interview with team - Final face-to-face interview WORKING AT ICEYE At ICEYE, you’ll join a diverse and highly engaged team united by the ambition to make the impossible possible. As a global scale-up, we combine speed and ambition with the opportunity to take real ownership from day one. Your growth, wellbeing, and success are a priority, with continuous professional development, training opportunities, and a culture where collaboration is how we win. HOW WE WORK (OUR VALUES) Make the impossible possible: We set ambitious goals and stay calm under pressure. We bring grit, optimism, and ownership when things get hard, and we keep moving until we find a way. - Be curious: Go deep, ask questions, listen carefully, and think critically. Understand the “why” behind decisions. - See the big picture: Stay close to what’s happening across the company so you can make better decisions. Consider how your work affects others. - Drive effective teamwork: