Mechanical Engineer

Icarus; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Top market salary and bonuses

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Daily lunch

Job summary

Icarus is seeking a mechanical engineer to design and build solar-powered aircraft flying at 60,000 ft. This role involves hands-on work from concept to flight, requiring ownership of mechanical subsystems and collaboration with a small, dynamic team.

Ideal candidates will have at least 1+ years of experience in mechanical engineering with strong fundamentals in structures and materials. We offer competitive salaries ranging from $100,000 to $160,000, alongside meaningful equity and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 1+ years of experience with mechanical hardware.
• Strong fundamentals in engineering principles.
• Experience with composites and bonded assemblies.

Responsibilities

• Design and fly structures for stratospheric aircraft.
• Own mechanical subsystems from concept to flight.
• Build, test, and refine flight hardware.

Skills

Designing mechanical hardware

Analyzing structures and materials

Building lightweight structures

Troubleshooting in the field

Job description

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

• Design and fly lightweight, high-reliability structures for stratospheric aircraft
• Own mechanical subsystems from concept to flight
• Perform first-principles sizing, trade studies, and rapid iteration
• Build, test, break, and refine flight hardware
• Support integration, production, and flight operations
• Work closely with avionics, GNC, power, RF, and software teams

What we’re looking for

• 1+ years designing, analyzing, or building real mechanical hardware
• Strong fundamentals in structures, materials, and first-principles engineering
• Experience with lightweight structures, composites, sheet metal, or bonded assemblies
• Comfortable moving fast, owning outcomes, and working hands-on in the factory and field

Why Icarus

• Meaningful equity
• Top market salary and bonuses
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Real ownership, real hardware, real flight
• Small team, massive responsibility
• High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture
• Dream desk setup
• Daily lunch

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

$100,000 - $160,000 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.