50 jobs on offer as Orbex launches recruitment drive ahead of first rocket launch from Space Hub Sutherland
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Aerospace company Orbex is launching a recruitment campaign in its push to prepare for the first vertical rocket launch from Space Hub Sutherland.
The company, which has a base in Forres, has announced that it is looking to take on an extra 50 staff members over the next six months. It is understood that most of the new jobs will be based in Moray.
Orbex is developing a small commercial orbital rocket called Prime which it intends to launch from Space Hub Sutherland, when it becomes operational.
Prime is a “micro-launcher” rocket designed to carry small satellites weighing around 150kg to low Earth orbit.
Orbex chief executive Chris Larmour said: “We have already tripled the size of our team over the last 12 months. And now the roles we are recruiting for are the clearest demonstration that we are in the final countdown to launch from UK soil.
“There is no better time to join Orbex – we have an extremely exciting few years ahead of us and we encourage people to find out more about the roles we have on offer.”
Many of the new jobs will support “integrated testing” of the complete rocket at the Orbex LP1 launch platform test facility at Kinloss.
New recruits will be slotted into existing teams responsible for areas of the development of the rocket, including propulsion, structures, avionics, CNC machining and embedding software.
There will also be new jobs in areas such as communications between ground staff and the rocket in flight, covering fields such as guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems, sensors data capture, ground segment software and radio engineering.
Fifteen of the new roles will be non-technical positions, offering a wide range of people new opportunities to train or reskill for careers in the space sectors.
These positions will require no previous experience of the aerospace industry and will cover areas such as logistics, finance and procurement.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is developing the £22.3 million space hub at the Mhoine in north Sutherland.
HIE’s director of strategic projects David Oxley, said: “This is fantastic news for Orbex and for the Highlands and Islands.
“The Scottish space sector is on course for serious growth over the next few years and the economic benefits for our region will be significant.
“We are fast approaching a time when Scottish-made satellites will be sent into low Earth orbit from Scottish space ports, using rockets designed and manufactured in Scotland.
“That vision would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago, and Orbex is playing a major role in making it a reality.”
Scottish Government employment minister Richard Lochhead said: “These jobs will bring us a step closer to achieving our ambition of 20,000 jobs in the Scottish space sector by 2030.
“Orbex is bringing high-value jobs to Moray while inspiring the study of science and engineering – which will help create future rocket scientists.
“Companies like Orbex are vital to achieving the aims of our newly published National Strategy for Economic Transformation that will support a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators.”
