Christine Klein studied Political Science and International and European Law at the University of Bonn. She began her career in the space sector working on the commercialization of the International Space Station.
In 2012 she joined the German Space Agency at DLR, where she was responsible for financial planning of Germany’s contributions to ESA programmes and later chaired ESA’s Administrative and Finance Committee (2017–2020). From 2019 she also headed the German delegation to ESA’s Industrial Policy Committee and received the Fritz-Rudorf Prize for outstanding achievements in European space management.
Christine joined the European Space Agency in 2020 as Head of Workforce Management. In 2022 she became Head of Industrial Policy and Auditing in ESA’s Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness, where she led the evolution of ESA’s Industrial Policy. Since April 2026 she is working at ESA.