Founding Recruiter

Why the Stratosphere? From first principles, it is the obvious place to build. Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites orbit at 400 kilometers, moving at 17,000 mph and offering only brief snapshots. An autonomous solar-powered bird at 20 kilometers, or 65,000 ft, flies steady above the clouds and weather. In other words, it’s very close to Earth. And persistent by flying in circles. Effectively a Cell Tower in the Sky. The Stratosphere provides the physics of permanence. That persistence is priceless. That is Skylink. Start small. Build upward. The first product of Icarus is a small, affordable solar-powered Stratospheric bird. A platform designed to be light, simple, and built under constraints. Affordability is the foundation. More importantly, it solves a real use case now. A wedge into the market through intelligence and communications. A beachhead that proves the model, attracts customers who need it so badly they’ll use it even before it’s perfect, and opens the path to market disruption at scale. The vision: Skylink The vision goes further than building one plane or even one fleet. The goal is Skylink: a persistent Stratospheric grid delivering continuous intelligence, uninterrupted communications, and global connectivity. A new layer of infrastructure. The next backbone of how we see, sense, and connect the world. Our mission at Icarus is to re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere. We asked ourselves: what is the fastest and best way to execute this? The answer was not to start with a massive, billion-dollar program. It was to start with affordable birds, scale endurance step by step, and build upward into Skylink. 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. Getting there requires exceptional engineers, technicians, and operators. You will help bring them here. Mission Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere. The role • As a Founding Recruiter, you will own recruiting from the first outbound message to the signed offer. You’ll work directly with the CEO and hiring managers to understand what we need, find exceptional people, and convince them to build with us. You should love the search: finding the engineer behind an impressive project, getting a response from someone who wasn’t looking, and turning a first conversation into a hire. You’ll build the recruiting systems that help Icarus grow while staying close to the work yourself. What You'll own • Recruiting from start to finish. Source, screen, coordinate interviews, manage offers, and close candidates across engineering, manufacturing, flight operations, and business. • Outbound sourcing. Build targeted talent maps and reach people through thoughtful outreach, referrals, technical communities, and creative research. • Hiring manager partnerships. Translate technical needs into clear role requirements, interview plans, and evidence of what great looks like. • Candidate relationships. Learn what motivates each person, communicate clearly, and help them understand the mission, the work, and the expectations. • Closing. Work with leadership on offers, address concerns early, and guide candidates through decisions and relocation. • Recruiting operations. Keep Greenhouse accurate, interviews moving, and feedback timely. Build practical systems that save the team time. • Results. Track sourcing effectiveness, interview conversion, offer acceptance, and time to hire. Find bottlenecks and fix them. • Our recruiting story. Turn the work happening in the factory and the field into compelling job descriptions, outreach, and candidate conversations. What we're looking for • 3+ years of recruiting experience with a record of sourcing and closing difficult technical roles. • Experience recruiting for hardware, aerospace, defense, robotics, manufacturing, or another technically demanding environment. • Strong sourcing instincts. You know how to find people beyond the obvious companies and keywords. • Enough technical curiosity to understand what candidates have built and why their experience matters. • Clear writing, strong judgment, and the ability to earn trust with candidates and demanding hiring managers. • Comfort managing multiple searches and changing priorities while keeping commitments. • Personal ownership of outcomes. You follow through, spot problems early, and improve what isn’t working. • Ability to work at our El Segundo factory five days a week. Bonus • Helped build recruiting at an early-stage company. • Hired across mechanical, electrical, embedded software, RF, GNC, or flight test disciplines. • Built strong networks in aerospace, defense, or hardware. • Created referral programs, university relationships, or technical events that produced exceptional hires. 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 Hiring process • Phone screen with the hiring manager via Microsoft Teams • Onsite presentation and panel Q&A US salary range $130,000 - $170,000 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.