Software Engineer (Generalist)
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>&nbsp;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>Build and own end-to-end software systems that power flight operations, autonomy, and user interaction</li> <li>Develop mission-critical backend services for telemetry, command and control, data ingestion, and analytics</li> <li>Build clean, fast frontends for ground control, monitoring, and operator workflows</li> <li>Design APIs and data pipelines that connect aircraft, ground stations, and users</li> <li>Work closely with embedded, avionics, GNC, RF, and operations teams to ship tightly integrated systems</li> <li>Support flight test, field ops, and rapid iteration using real flight data</li> <li>Take systems from concept to production with speed and ownership</li> </ul> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What we’re looking for</h2> <ul> <li>2+ years building real full-stack software in production</li> <li>Strong backend experience (Python, Go, Rust, or similar)</li> <li>Strong frontend experience (React, TypeScript, or similar)</li> <li>Experience designing APIs, databases, and distributed systems</li> <li>Comfort working close to hardware, real-time systems, or operational data</li> <li>Ability to move fast, own outcomes, and debug under pressure</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, software, and systems</li> <li>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</li> <li>You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, troubleshoot in the field, and push hardware t