Software Engineer (Generalist)

About the role

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

Build and own end-to-end software systems that power flight operations, autonomy, and user interaction

Develop mission-critical backend services for telemetry, command and control, data ingestion, and analytics

Build clean, fast frontends for ground control, monitoring, and operator workflows

Design APIs and data pipelines that connect aircraft, ground stations, and users

Work closely with embedded, avionics, GNC, RF, and operations teams to ship tightly integrated systems

Support flight test, field ops, and rapid iteration using real flight data

Take systems from concept to production with speed and ownership

What we’re looking for

2+ years building real full-stack software in production

Strong backend experience (Python, Go, Rust, or similar)

Strong frontend experience (React, TypeScript, or similar)

Experience designing APIs, databases, and distributed systems

Comfort working close to hardware, real-time systems, or operational data

Ability to move fast, own outcomes, and debug under pressure

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 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

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.

Hiring process

Technical interview

One-on-one with CEO

Meet the team in-person

US salary range

$120,000 - $220,000 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.