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.
What you’ll do
- Own full-cycle recruiting for our engineering and manufacturing roles, from intake through close.
- Source creatively to build a deep pipeline, identifying talent from aerospace, robotics, and hardware companies and continuously growing that network.
- Write outreach that senior engineers actually answer, and carry those candidates through the process yourself.
- Partner with hiring managers to define what strong looks like before the first screen, and build the scorecards and interview loops that hold that bar.
- Own and report the funnel. Track pipeline KPIs, find where candidates fall out, and fix it.
- Close exceptional engineers against offers from larger, better-capitalized companies. You will need to pitch the mission honestly and well.
- Develop a deep understanding of what we build, enough to be credible with the engineers you are recruiting.
- Improve the recruiting function as you run it. You are our first dedicated recruiter, and you will define how this works as we scale.
What we’re looking for
- 2+ years of full lifecycle technical recruiting experience at a hardware company, or hiring mechanical, electrical, embedded, or software engineers.
- Experience owning and managing a high-volume req load.
- Demonstrated sourcing ability. You can point to specific senior engineers you found, engaged, and closed — not requisitions you filled from inbound applicants.
- Genuine technical curiosity. You do not need an engineering degree, but you do need to be the kind of person who reads the spec sheet.
- Comfort operating without process and building it as you go. Our recruiting function is early; you will be defining it.
- Fluency with data. You track funnel metrics, diagnose bottlenecks, and use numbers to argue for changes.
- A serious commitment to feedback and growth.
- The drive to perform in a fast-paced, high-intensity environment.
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 recruiting job
- We are pioneers, not corporate managers. Icarus deliberately optimizes for a high signal (engineering) to noise (management) ratio, where engineering, manufacturing, flight, and execution matter more than process, politics, or management overhead.
- You will work alongside the CEO and a small team of world-class builders, embedded in the real problems of building and flying aircraft. You will sit on the factory floor, not in an HR wing.
- Recruiting here is a technical function. You are expected to understand what we build and to speak about it accurately.
- We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight.
- We want builders. No hand-holding, no fluff, no fake projects. Real problems, real data, and real results.
- You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, and solve problems across functions.
- We move fast. We expect results and an obsession with quality and speed.
No tourists. No bystanders. Only builders.
Hiring process
- Intro call
- Interview with the CEO
- Meet the team in-person
US salary range
$100,000 - $140,000 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.