# Head of Operations

**Company:** [Icarus](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/icarus)
**Location:** El Segundo, CA
**Role:** Business Operations
**Salary:** $150k – $500k/yr
**Skills:** Operations Management, Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, Facilities Management, Procurement, Vendor Management, Finance Operations, Recruiting Operations, KPI Tracking, Systems Building
**Posted:** 2026-05-21

> 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.

## Job Description

## What you’ll do
- Own company operations across facilities, people operations, recruiting operations, vendor management, procurement, finance/admin workflows, legal coordination, and internal systems.
- Build the operating cadence of the company: weekly leadership meetings, department rhythms, KPI tracking, company goals, hiring plans, project follow-through, and accountability loops.
- Help scale our El Segundo factory into a high-output aerospace manufacturing and flight-test operation.
- Partner with engineering and manufacturing leads to remove blockers, improve throughput, tighten execution, and keep the team focused on the highest-priority work.
- Build lightweight systems for onboarding, purchasing, inventory, facilities, documentation, compliance, security, IT, and internal communication.
- Drive special projects for the CEO, especially cross-functional projects that do not fit neatly into one department but are critical to the company.
- Help prepare the company for the next stage of growth, including larger facilities, more complex programs, more hires, more customers, and higher operational intensity.

## What we’re looking for
- Elite operator who gets things done; organized, intense, low-ego, and allergic to bureaucracy.
- Comfortable operating at 60,000 feet and on the factory floor in the same day.
- Can build systems without slowing the company down.
- Comfortable working directly with the CEO and senior technical leaders.
- Can manage chaos, make decisions with incomplete information, and create clarity for the team.
- Extremely high ownership: fix what’s broken, clarify what’s unclear, accelerate what’s moving too slowly.
- Does not need hand-holding; finds the problem, creates the plan, and drives it to completion.
- Prior experience in startups, aerospace, defense, manufacturing, hardware, operations, consulting, finance, or military leadership is helpful but not required; raw horsepower, judgment, ownership, and execution matter most.

## Why Icarus
- A lot of 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 (but growing very fast)
- High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture
- Dream desk setup
- Daily lunch
- Unlimited Celsius
- We are pioneers, not corporate managers.
- High-trust, no-BS team; everyone pulls their weight.
- Builders wanted: no hand-holding, no fluff, no fake projects, no sitting in meetings all day. Real execution, real hardware, real flight, and real company-building.

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**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/bcb8e0ba-dbe6-4a4d-bac5-21710dbbe93d
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