El Segundo, CA
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.
Own end-to-end thermal design and analysis for high-altitude solar aircraft, including battery thermal management in low-convection environments. Requires taking designs from modeling through testing to flight, with strong experience in radiation-dominant thermal networks and hands-on chamber testing.
Own all IT functions as the first dedicated hire at an aerospace startup building high-altitude solar aircraft. Manage Microsoft 365, endpoints, identity, assets, network support for office and factory, automation, documentation, and build compliance controls for NIST/CMMC.
Build, run, and improve test setups and procedures for high-altitude solar aircraft hardware including avionics, power systems, and electromechanical assemblies. Requires bachelor's in engineering, 2+ years hardware testing experience, and hands-on troubleshooting skills.
Build and own the end-to-end supply chain for a fast-moving aerospace startup developing solar-powered high-altitude aircraft. Define strategy, build supplier networks and team, manage inventory/logistics, mitigate long-lead risks, and scale from prototypes to high-rate production while working directly with the CEO.
Own and optimize all physical infrastructure and facilities for a solar-powered high-altitude aircraft manufacturer. Lead factory buildouts, renovations, utility systems, contractor management, and long-term expansion to eliminate bottlenecks and maximize engineering and production velocity.
Own end-to-end external aerodynamics CFD for high-altitude solar aircraft, including geometry design in CATIA, automated workflow development in STAR-CCM+, and scaling simulations on AWS. Requires bachelor's in aerospace/mechanical engineering, strong fluid dynamics fundamentals, and 2-3+ years hands-on CFD experience.
Own end-to-end operational and strategic projects at a solar-powered aircraft company. Drive process improvements, data-driven analysis, cross-functional project management, and special initiatives across business systems and teams. Requires 2-3 years in consulting, IB, strategy/ops or business analyst roles plus strong analytical and proactive skills.
Flight Operations Engineer responsible for end-to-end aircraft operations: site setup, preflight, piloting high-altitude solar UAS, real-time monitoring, troubleshooting, data analysis, procedure writing, and iterating on flight performance. Requires 3+ years UAS/flight test experience, strong troubleshooting across mechanical/electrical/software, Linux proficiency, and calm decision-making under pressure.
Senior Forward Deployed Engineer responsible for deploying, setting up, troubleshooting, and operating solar-powered high-altitude aircraft and ground systems in field environments. Requires hands-on hardware/software/networking expertise, independent operation in high-pressure settings, and feeding field insights back to engineering teams.
The Flight Test Engineer designs and executes flight test campaigns for high-altitude solar-powered aircraft, oversees real-time test execution, analyzes telemetry data to characterize performance, and drives design improvements through reports and root cause analysis. Requires aerospace/mechanical engineering degree, flight test experience, strong data analysis skills in MATLAB/Python, and willingness to travel to remote test sites.
Operate solar-powered high-altitude UAS from hangar to flight and back: set up test sites, perform preflight, pilot from ground control station, monitor telemetry, troubleshoot mechanical/electrical/software issues in the field, and feed data back to engineers. Requires 3+ years hands-on UAS/RC/military UAV experience, strong troubleshooting, Linux familiarity, calm judgment under pressure, and willingness to travel to remote sites.
Own end-to-end aircraft readiness for high-altitude solar-powered UAS: assemble, inspect, troubleshoot, maintain, and sign off on airworthiness for flights at 60,000 ft. Requires 3+ years hands-on aircraft/UAS maintenance experience, strong mechanical/electrical/software troubleshooting skills, and FAA Part 107 (or willingness to obtain).
Design and own lightweight mechanical structures and subsystems for stratospheric solar-powered aircraft from concept through flight test and operations. Requires 1+ years of hands-on mechanical hardware experience and strong fundamentals in structures and materials.
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.
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.
Designs, builds, and validates RF subsystems including radios, antennas, and data links for stratospheric aircraft. Requires 2+ years RF experience in aerospace/UAVs, hands-on testing, and field debugging.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.