Why the Stratosphere?
From first principles, it is the obvious place to build. Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites orbit at 400 kilometers, moving at 17,000 mph and offering only brief snapshots. An autonomous solar-powered bird at 20 kilometers, or 65,000 ft, flies steady above the clouds and weather. In other words, it’s very close to Earth. And persistent by flying in circles. Effectively a Cell Tower in the Sky. The Stratosphere provides the physics of permanence. That persistence is priceless. That is Skylink.
Start small. Build upward.
The first product of Icarus is a small, affordable solar-powered Stratospheric bird. A platform designed to be light, simple, and built under constraints. Affordability is the foundation. More importantly, it solves a real use case now. A wedge into the market through intelligence and communications. A beachhead that proves the model, attracts customers who need it so badly they’ll use it even before it’s perfect, and opens the path to market disruption at scale.
The vision: Skylink
The vision goes further than building one plane or even one fleet. The goal is Skylink: a persistent Stratospheric grid delivering continuous intelligence, uninterrupted communications, and global connectivity. A new layer of infrastructure. The next backbone of how we see, sense, and connect the world.
Our mission at Icarus is to re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere. We asked ourselves: what is the fastest and best way to execute this? The answer was not to start with a massive, billion-dollar program. It was to start with affordable birds, scale endurance step by step, and build upward into Skylink.
Icarus was founded on the belief that the Stratosphere is the Forgotten Frontier and that reclaiming it will define the next era of aerospace and what is possible from the sky. We build solar-powered aircraft that fly at 60,000 ft for weeks at a time, delivering persistent, affordable, and scalable presence from this layer of the atmosphere.
Mission
Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere.
Logistics Lead
The Logistics Lead owns how Icarus moves. When the customer receives our game-changing product, your work will be the first thing they see. Every shipment in and out, every piece of equipment and every person headed to an exercise or demo, every product delivered to a customer, and every company vehicle that gets them there.
What you’ll do
Move mission-critical equipment and people
- Coordinate all shipments in and out: freight, carriers, crating, manifests and customs
- Lead logistics compliance in accordance with applicable regulations; ITAR, EAR, cross-border shipments
- Plan, lead and execute equipment and personnel movements to exercises, demos, and test campaigns
- Interface directly with customers, range coordinators, and exercise / event organizers on delivery schedules, site access, and movement logistics
Own product deliveries
- Treat every delivery as a demonstration of how Icarus operates
- Deliveries of product to customers end to end: packaging, carrier selection, tracking, logging
Run the fleet
- Own company vehicles: registration, insurance, maintenance schedules, repairs, and field readiness
- Keep trucks, trailers, and ground support equipment ready to roll at any time (we like to test at 4am)
Manage and track
- Supervise inventory procedures: cycle counts, location management, receiving accuracy, and ERP transactions
- Ensure inventory bays, staging areas, and shipping areas are clean, organized, and audit-ready
What we’re looking for
- 3-4+ years in logistics, deployment operations, or materials management, ideally in aerospace, defense, or other regulated manufacturing
- Military logistics experience in dynamic and ambiguous environments, responsible for movement of equipment and personnel
- Track record of coordinating complex, multi-site movements
- Comfort representing the company professionally to customers and range coordinators
- Mastery of ERP or inventory systems and shipping documentation (packing lists, BOLs, customs paperwork)
- Strong attention to detail and pride in accurate, traceable work
- Willingness to occasionally travel to test ranges and customer sites as the mission demands
- Experience with ITAR-controlled shipments and export documentation
- Strong communicator, non-negotiable
- High trust, extreme ownership, no ego
Bonus
- Hazmat shipping certifications (IATA/DOT)
- Active duty logistics background (unit movement officer, mobility, embark, loadmaster)
- Commercial Driver’s License
- Experience standing up logistics at an early-stage hardware company
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 (but growing very fast)
- High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture
- Dream desk setup
- Daily lunch
- Unlimited celsius
This is not a normal logistics job
- We are pioneers, not corporate managers. Icarus deliberately optimizes for a high signal (engineers) to noise (management) ratio, where engineering, flight, and execution matter more than process, politics, or management overhead
- You will work side by side with engineers and operators, not behind a wall from them. You will enable the whole team to work faster than the competition.
- We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight
- We want operators, not bureaucrats. No process for process's sake. No sitting in meetings all day. Just real work that puts real hardware and real people exactly where they need to be, on time
- You must thrive under pressure and learn fast. We move fast. We go to Mojave at 4 am in the morning, and the truck, the trailer, and the aircraft had better be ready
- You will be the reason Icarus shows up ready, every time, everywhere. If you want to be the one who makes the mission move, this is it.
No tourists. No bystanders. Only builders.
Hiring process
- Phone screen with the hiring manager via Microsoft Teams
- Onsite presentation and panel Q&A, including a logistics case exercise and a walk of the factory floor
US salary range
$105,000-$155,000 USD
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Icarus' total compensation package.
We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
