Orbitworks brings together engineers, operators and leaders who have built satellites, run missions and shaped national strategy. Together they are building lasting space capability in the United Arab Emirates.
From spacecraft design and manufacturing to mission operations, software and programme delivery, the Orbitworks team covers every step of taking a mission from idea to orbit. The disciplines that usually sit in separate companies work side by side here, in one place in Abu Dhabi.
Where our experience runs deep
Our leaders have built and delivered satellites at scale before. These are figures from the work they did at OneWeb, Airbus and across the global space industry.
Drawn from
Engineers, operators, scientists and leaders from across the world and across the United Arab Emirates, building one team in Abu Dhabi.
Hover a face to decode the name
Orbitworks is guided by people who have led satellite manufacturing, global space ventures, defence programmes and national strategy. They have run serial production lines that turned out hundreds of spacecraft, and they bring that discipline to the factory in Abu Dhabi.
The executive directors who set the course for Orbitworks and connect it to its founding partners.
Acting Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director
Chief Executive of Marlan Space, and previously National Security Adviser and Ambassador to the United States for Afghanistan. He began his career as an engineer and later served as chief technology officer at the American University of Afghanistan, and holds a doctorate from Brunel University.
Chief Operating Officer
An aerospace operations leader from Airbus and OneWeb Satellites, where he industrialised satellite production and stood up the serial production facility in Florida that delivered more than seven hundred spacecraft.
Acting Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Director
A technology and operations executive who co-founded an AI platform and worked as an engineer at Microsoft and in conflict regions with Mercy Corps. He holds an MBA from Georgetown and a degree in computer engineering from Clemson.
Executive Director
Co-founder and Chief Executive of Loft Orbital, with more than fifteen years in the space industry and earlier roles at Spire Global and NASA Ames Research Center, scaling operations and international partnerships.
The leaders running industrial operations, infrastructure, integration, business development, finance and people, day to day in Abu Dhabi.
VP Industrial Operations
More than fourteen years in aerospace and advanced manufacturing, including leading manufacturing at Airbus US Space and Defense where over six hundred and fifty satellites were delivered. He holds an MBA and a master's in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida.
VP of Infrastructure
Over five years at Loft Orbital leading RF payload, software and satellite operations, and a former Stanford researcher for NASA. He holds master's degrees from Stanford and École Centrale Paris and is a Fulbright scholar.
Business Development Director
A satellite communications veteran with prior leadership at Space42 and Yahsat Space Services, and a degree in electrical, electronics and communications engineering from Virginia Tech.
Business Development Director
More than fifteen years in defence, intelligence and geospatial technology, with roles at Planet and Orbital Insight, time as a NASA researcher and a Formula 1 performance engineer, and an MBA from INSEAD.
AIT Director
Close to seven years of expertise in the space sector, a board member of the UAE Space Agency, and formerly a programme manager at the National Space Science and Technology Center at UAE University.
Finance Director
Nearly two decades in finance across oil and gas, fintech and healthcare, with prior roles at EY, TVM Capital and Euro Mechanical. An ACCA Fellow, he has managed mergers and acquisitions totalling more than four hundred million dollars.
Head of People Ops and Recruiting
Over nine years spearheading people operations in MENA technology, including leading HR at Retailo Technologies and Stella Stays across several markets, with a focus on talent strategy and organisational development.
The team is organised around the work of building and flying satellites, so each mission has the right people from first design to operations in orbit.
Scroll to move through the team
Orbitworks is here to build capability that lasts, not to fly one mission and leave. The team is transferring how satellites are designed, built, tested and operated into Abu Dhabi, so the knowledge takes root in the country and a new generation of Emirati talent can carry it forward.
Orbitworks is a joint venture between Marlan Space in Abu Dhabi, affiliated with International Holding Company, and Loft Orbital in the United States. The partnership was announced in August 2024 with an initial investment of more than 100 million dollars, backing a team that designs, builds and operates AI-enabled satellites from Abu Dhabi.
We are growing the team that designs, builds and operates satellites from the United Arab Emirates. If you want your work to matter, we would like to hear from you.
