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.
Levels
We are hiring at Level I, Level II, and Level III through this posting. Your level will be determined during the interview process based on your technical skills, relevant experience, and demonstrated scope of ownership.
What you’ll do
- Build, run, and improve test setups and procedures for our aircraft hardware — avionics, power systems, sensors, and electromechanical assemblies — at the bench and at the system level.
- Perform incoming inspection and bring-up of electronics (PCBAs and COTS components) and mechanical assemblies, and troubleshoot issues down to root cause.
- Run environmental and qualification testing — thermal, vibration, and altitude/vacuum — to prove our hardware survives the stratosphere.
- Develop hardware-in-the-loop and automated test setups that make engineering iteration loops faster.
- Support calibration of test and development assets and keep test equipment maintained and reliable.
- Capture and analyze test data, document results, disposition non-conformances, and drive corrective actions and improvements back into the product.
- Review schematics, layouts, BOMs, drawings, and work instructions, and help create clear test documentation.
- Support integration, production bring-up, and flight test in the field.
What we’re looking for
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, aerospace, mechanical, or a similar technical field.
- 2+ years of professional, internship, academic, or project-based experience testing real hardware — electronics, electromechanical systems, or similar (coursework, internships, and serious personal projects count).
- Ability to read and interpret schematics, layouts, and BOMs (mechanical drawings a plus).
- Hands-on experience with common test equipment such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, and power supplies, and basic component-level troubleshooting.
- Familiarity with PCBA/electronics testing and/or environmental, qualification, or integration testing.
- A strong willingness to learn, ask questions, and grow in a fast-paced engineering environment.
- Comfort moving fast, owning outcomes, and troubleshooting in the field.
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
This is not a normal engineering 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 the CEO and a small team of world-class builders. You will own your work end to end. Test it. Break it. Find the failure. Fix it. Validate it. Then do it again, faster.
- We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight.
- We are hiring across the stack: mechanical, aerodynamics, RF, GNC, electrical, avionics, power electronics, energy storage, software, and systems.
- We want builders. No hand-holding. No fluff. No fake projects. No slide decks. No sitting in meetings all day. Just raw engineering, real hardware, and real flight.
- You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, troubleshoot in the field, and push hardware to its limits. We move fast. We go to Mojave at 4 am in the morning. We expect results and an obsession with quality and speed.
- You will be a core part of getting flight systems from concept to reality, proving they work and driving rapid iteration loops. If you want real ownership, real hardware, and real flight, 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
US salary range
- Level I: $100,000 - $140,000 USD per year
- Level II: $140,000 - $180,000 USD per year
- Level III: $180,000 - $220,000 USD per year
These ranges reflect annual base salary. Final level and base salary will be determined individually based on relevant skills, experience, and the scope of responsibility.
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.
