Senior RF Engineer
Icarus
<p>Icarus was founded on the belief that the Stratosphere is the <a href="https://henryicarus.substack.com/p/the-forgotten-frontier?utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;triedRedirect=true"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ee;">Forgotten Frontier</span></strong></a> 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.</p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">Mission</h2> <p>Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere.</p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What you’ll do</h2> <ul> <li>Design, build, and fly RF and communications systems for long-endurance stratospheric aircraft</li> <li>Own RF subsystems end to end: architecture, link budgets, component selection, integration, test, and flight validation</li> <li>Design and integrate radios, antennas, RF front ends, and data links for LOS and BLOS operation</li> <li>Drive RF performance through analysis, simulation, bench testing, and flight data</li> <li>Lead EMI/EMC mitigation across avionics, power, and payload systems</li> <li>Work closely with avionics, GNC, electrical, mechanical, and software teams to deliver robust flight communications</li> <li>Support integration, production bring-up, and flight operations in the desert</li> </ul> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What we’re looking for</h2> <ul> <li>2+ years designing and deploying real RF systems for aerospace, defense, UAVs, or similarly demanding environments</li> <li>Strong fundamentals in RF theory, electromagnetics, and communications systems</li> <li>Experience with link budgets, antenna design or selection, RF propagation, and system-level trade studies</li> <li>Hands-on experience with RF test equipment (spectrum analyzers, VNAs, signal generators, power meters)</li> <li>Experience debugging RF systems in the field, not just in simulation</li> <li>Comfort working from first principles and validating performance through test and flight data</li> <li>Ability to move fast, own outcomes, and operate with minimal supervision</li> </ul> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">Why Icarus</h2> <ol> <li>Meaningful equity</li> <li>Top market salary and bonuses</li> <li>Health, dental, and vision insurance</li> <li>Factory in El Segundo</li> <li>Real ownership, real hardware, real flight</li> <li>Small team, massive responsibility</li> <li>High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture</li> <li>Dream desk setup</li> <li>Daily lunch</li> <li>Unlimited celsius</li> </ol> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">This is not a normal engineering job</h2> <ol> <li>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</li> <li>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</li> <li>We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight</li> <li>We are hiring across the stack: mechanical, aerodynamics, RF, GNC, electrical, avionics, power electronics, energy storage,