Icarus
Solar-powered stratospheric aircraft for defense
Icarus builds autonomous, solar-powered aircraft that fly at 60,000 feet for weeks, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance, and connectivity. Targeted at defense applications as affordable alternatives to satellites or high-end spy planes like the U-2. Enables scalable, low-cost stratospheric operations above weather but below orbit.
Manufacturing Engineer
Own manufacturing and production of solar-powered stratospheric aircraft hardware from prototype through scaled production at the El Segundo factory. Requires 1+ years building real mechanical, electrical, or aerospace hardware with strong DFM collaboration skills.
Embedded Software Engineer
Build and own flight-critical embedded software for solar-powered stratospheric aircraft. Requires 1+ years of real embedded systems experience, strong C/C++ skills, RTOS or bare-metal firmware, and hands-on debugging with hardware interfaces.
Electrical Engineer
Design and own electrical subsystems and high-reliability avionics for solar-powered stratospheric aircraft from concept through flight. Requires 1+ years building real electronic hardware and strong EE fundamentals.
Engineer (Formula SAE Track)
Formula SAE builder role designing, building, and flying lightweight mechanical subsystems for solar-powered stratospheric aircraft. Requires hands-on hardware experience, grit, and willingness to own subsystems end-to-end from concept to flight.
Head of Operations
Lead operations for a fast-moving aerospace startup building solar-powered high-altitude aircraft. Work directly with the CEO to build company operating systems including facilities, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, recruiting, and internal processes while scaling the El Segundo factory.
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Designs, builds, tests, and iterates lightweight mechanical structures and subsystems for solar-powered stratospheric aircraft. Requires 2+ years hands-on experience with composites, sheet metal, and first-principles engineering in fast-paced environment.
Senior Manufacturing Engineer
Owns manufacturing and production of solar-powered aircraft hardware from prototype to scaled production. Designs build processes, tooling, and quality checks while partnering with design engineers to improve manufacturability. Requires 2+ years hands-on experience with mechanical, electrical, or aerospace systems.
Senior GNC Engineer
Designs, implements, and flies guidance, navigation, and control systems for long-endurance stratospheric aircraft, owning the full GNC stack from modeling to flight testing. Requires 2+ years experience with real aircraft/UAV GNC systems and strong dynamics/controls fundamentals.
Senior Full Stack Software Engineer
Builds and owns end-to-end full-stack software systems powering flight operations, autonomy, telemetry, and operator interfaces for solar-powered high-altitude aircraft. Requires 2+ years full-stack production experience with strong Python/Go/Rust backends and React/TypeScript frontends.
Senior Forward Deployed Engineer
Deploys to test sites and customer environments to integrate, troubleshoot, and iterate on flight hardware/software. Debugs avionics, RF, power, software, and mechanical issues under pressure; executes flight tests with high autonomy. Requires 2+ years field experience in aerospace/hardware.
Senior Embedded Software Engineer
Develops flight-critical embedded software for solar-powered stratospheric aircraft, owning subsystems from architecture to flight validation. Requires 2+ years in high-reliability embedded systems, strong C/C++, RTOS/bare-metal experience, and hardware interfacing skills.
Senior Electrical Engineer
Design, build, and iterate high-reliability avionics and electrical subsystems for solar-powered stratospheric aircraft. Collaborate with cross-functional teams on integration, production, and flight operations. Requires 2+ years building hardware with strong EE fundamentals.
Dream Job
Exceptional builders own aerospace subsystems end-to-end—from design and build to desert validation and flight testing—at a high-trust startup pioneering stratosphere aircraft. Work side-by-side with CEO on real hardware with extreme ownership.