Quality and Product Assurance Manager

Open Cosmos Ltd
Didcot, OX11 0RL, United Kingdom
13 months ago
Job Type
Permanent
Work Location
On-site
Seniority
Senior
Education
Degree
Posted
20 May 2025 (13 months ago)

Benefits

Flexible Working

Working for Open Cosmos

Aim high, go beyond! At Open Cosmos we are solving the world’s biggest challenges from space, providing businesses, governments and researchers access to more readily available information than ever before - ready for the challenge? Then read on…

Working in the Quality and Product Assurance Team

At Open Cosmos, our Quality and Product Assurance (QPA) team plays a key role in driving continuous improvement across all our operations and facilities. As the QPA Manager, you’ll be at the forefront of shaping how we work —bringing industry best practices to life and proactively identifying ways to boost efficiency, reliability, and quality in everything we do.

This role is also central to representing our customers' voices within the company. You'll make sure their needs and expectations are clearly understood and thoughtfully integrated into the design, development, and delivery of our products and services. By advocating for the customer every step of the way, you’ll help ensure the success of our missions and build strong, lasting relationships based on trust and satisfaction. Your work will be instrumental in making sure every product we deliver doesn’t just meet expectations—but aims to exceed them.

What will you be doing?

We are seeking a passionate and pragmatic Quality and Product Assurance Manager to drive the creation and continuous improvement of processes for developing and producing high-performance and high quality space hardware and software.

This hands-on, technical role will significantly impact production and supply chain aspects, supporting the industrialization of our next-generation satellites.

The successful candidate will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to establish cross-departmental processes and synergies. The role requires a strong commitment to continuous improvement and pushing technological boundaries, aligned with our company values and vision.

What you need to be successful

  • Strong knowledge of quality management systems applied to the space sector.
  • Knowledge of how to apply ECSS standards and ISO9001 practically.
  • Able to identify and take quantified risks and make decisions in a fast-changing environment so we can satisfy the customer needs.
  • Strong communication skills and capability in managing other people, ensuring high motivation levels of the team and leveraging their performance to deliver.
  • A proactive approach to work with the ability to operate autonomously, self-directed and self-motivate.
  • Able to use a combination of logic, analysis and past experiences to solve problems effectively.

Working conditions/arrangements

This is an on-site position that occasionally will allow the successful candidate to work remotely from home. However, the following conditions need to be met:

  • Due to the nature of this role, you will be required in the office/lab at least 2-3 days per week, fluctuating based on business needs.
  • During qualification test campaigns, you will be required in the office/lab for longer stints (e.g., 2 weeks consecutively).
  • While working from home, if an emergency arises, you may be required to come to the office/lab on a short notice.

Related Jobs

View all jobs

Supplier Quality Assurance (SQA) Manager

Open Cosmos Ltd Didcot, OX11 0RL, United Kingdom
Hybrid

Facilities Manager, Harwell Campus

Open Cosmos Ltd Didcot, OX11 0RL, United Kingdom
On-site

Supply Chain Quality Manager

ARM Stevenage, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
£35 ph Hybrid

Senior Mission Manager

Open Cosmos Ltd Didcot, OX11 0RL, United Kingdom
On-site

2nd Line IT Support Engineer

Open Cosmos Ltd Didcot, OX11 0RL, United Kingdom
On-site

Quality Engineer

Spire Glasgow, Alba / Scotland, G2 1AL, United Kingdom

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

Where to Advertise Space Jobs in the UK (2026 Guide)

Where to advertise space jobs UK in 2026: the specialist boards, agency channels and community routes that reach satellite, propulsion and launch talent. The candidate pool spans satellite engineers, propulsion specialists, mission analysts, ground segment software developers, space systems architects and commercial space professionals — a highly specific multidisciplinary community that general job boards are poorly equipped to reach. The strongest space candidates are often embedded in ESA programmes, academic research groups, UK Space Agency-funded projects or established primes, and move between roles through sector-specific networks, industry bodies and conference communities rather than mainstream platforms. This guide, published by UKSpaceJobs.co.uk, covers where to advertise space industry roles in the UK in 2026, how the main platforms compare, what employers should expect to pay, and what the data says about hiring across different role types.

Space Jobs UK 2026: What to Expect Over the Next 3 Years

Space Jobs UK 2026: roles, salaries and the UK space sector hiring trends shaping satellites, launch, Earth observation and space data careers. The UK space sector is in the middle of something that feels genuinely historic. A combination of government commitment, private capital, and technological progress has transformed Britain's position in the global space economy from a capable but secondary player into a nation with serious sovereign ambitions — and a jobs market that is expanding to match them. This is not the space industry of previous generations, defined by a small number of government agencies, a handful of prime contractors, and career pathways accessible only to a narrow band of elite engineers and scientists. The new space economy is broader, faster-moving, and more commercially driven than anything the sector has previously seen. Satellite manufacturing has been democratised by small sat technology. Launch is becoming domestic. Space data is flowing into applications across agriculture, insurance, climate monitoring, maritime, and defence at a scale that is creating entirely new categories of commercial hiring. And the defence and national security dimensions of space have elevated the sector's strategic importance to a degree that is driving sustained public investment in the talent pipeline. For job seekers, the UK space jobs market of 2026 represents an opportunity that is both more accessible and more technically demanding than at any previous point. The candidates who will thrive over the next three years are those who understand where the sector is heading — which programmes are moving from development into operation, which technologies are defining the architecture of modern space systems, and how the definition of a space career is expanding well beyond the spacecraft engineering core toward a much wider ecosystem of roles across the full space value chain. This article breaks down what the UK space jobs market is likely to look like through to 2028 — covering the titles emerging right now, the technologies driving employer demand, the skills that will matter most, and how to position your career at the leading edge of one of the most exciting sectors in the UK economy.