Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

Icarus•El Segundo, CA

4d•$120,000 - $220,000

About The Position

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. You will be a core executor of flight systems, taking them from concept to reality and driving rapid iteration loops. You will work across design, integration, testing, and flight. If you want real ownership, real hardware, and real flight milestones, this is it. No tourists. No bystanders. Only builders. 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 subsystem end to end. Design it. Build it. Break it. Fix it. Validate it in the desert. Fly 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

Requirements

2+ years working on real systems in the field (aerospace, robotics, defense, autonomy, or hardware startups)
Strong hands-on debugging skills across hardware and software
Comfort working across disciplines: avionics, RF, embedded software, mechanical systems, and ops
Ability to operate independently in ambiguous, high-pressure environments
Strong communication skills with engineers, operators, and customers
Willingness to travel frequently and operate out of test ranges, airfields, and remote locations

Responsibilities

Deploy forward with aircraft, ground systems, and engineers to real-world test sites and customer environments
Own on-site integration, troubleshooting, and rapid iteration of flight hardware and software
Act as the connective tissue between flight operations, engineering, and customers
Debug avionics, RF, power, software, and mechanical issues in the field under time pressure
Execute flight tests, demos, and exercises with minimal support and high autonomy
Collect ground truth, flight data, and operator feedback and drive it back into the product
Support customer training, mission planning, and operational workflows