Flight Operations Generalist

What you’ll do

Set up the site and the aircraft

• Stand up the test site: ground control station, comms, power, ground support equipment, and safety setup.
• Assemble, configure, and prepare aircraft for flight, including mechanical, electrical, and payload setup.
• Run preflight inspections and checklists, and own aircraft readiness.
• Configure and verify the ground control station, telemetry links, and mission plan before every flight.
• Act as connective tissue between engineers and the products they've built as they fly.

Fly

• Operate the aircraft in flight from the ground control station, executing the test plan under the direction of engineers.
• Monitor telemetry and aircraft health in real time and respond to anomalies in the moment.
• Act as the calm, decisive voice on the sticks when something goes wrong in the air.
• Run launch and recovery, including any non-traditional takeoff and landing configurations.

Troubleshoot and turn around

• Diagnose and fix mechanical, electrical, and software issues in the field to keep the test campaign moving.
• Refurbish and reset the aircraft between flights and prepare it for the next sortie.
• Capture flight logs, write up what happened, and feed it back to engineering to drive the next iteration.
• Maintain positive control of tools and hardware to keep the aircraft safe.

In the field

• Build and improve the standard operating procedures that make our flight operations repeatable and safe.
• Solve novel problems without hesitation.

What we’re looking for

• 3+ years of hands-on UAS, RC, or aircraft operations experience, or equivalent military experience as a UAV operator, maintainer, or crew chief.
• Demonstrated ability to set up, preflight, operate, and recover an unmanned aircraft.
• Strong hands-on troubleshooting across mechanical, electrical, and software systems.
• Comfort with ground control station software.
• Familiarity with the Linux command line for debugging and troubleshooting.
• Calm, decisive judgment under pressure, especially with an aircraft in the air.
• Comfort taking direction from engineers and translating it into safe flight operations.
• Willingness to travel to remote test sites and work long, physical days outdoors.
• Strong communicator, non-negotiable.
• High trust, extreme ownership, no ego.

Bonus

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
• Experience with developmental flight test, first-flight events, or build-up test programs.
• Background building RC or UAS aircraft (SAE Aero, Design Build Fly, or serious hobbyist).
• FAA Airframe and Powerplant license or military aviation maintenance background.
• Experience operating in austere or remote field environments.
• Aviation-adjacent military specialty with "air sense" (JTAC, CCT, etc).

Why Icarus

• Meaningful equity
• Top market salary and bonuses
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Factory in El Segundo
• Real ownership, real hardware, real flight
• Small team, massive responsibility
• High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture
• Dream desk setup
• Daily lunch
• Unlimited celsius

US salary range: $90,000 - $160,000 USD (base salary only; highly competitive equity grants are part of total compensation)