---
title: 'Regulatory & Airspace Lead at Icarus'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/regulatory-airspace-lead-icarus-el-segundo-6d16jqbjea0s'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-11'
---

# Regulatory & Airspace Lead at Icarus

- **Company:** Icarus
- **Location:** El Segundo, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-10-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/icarus/jobs/5454396008

## Job description

Icarus was founded on the belief that the Stratosphere is the [Forgotten Frontier](https://henryicarus.substack.com/p/the-forgotten-frontier) and that reclaiming it will define the next era of aerospace. 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.

## The role

As our Regulatory & Airspace Lead, you will own the approvals and access that take Icarus aircraft from development to flight test and customer deployment. Your scope spans FAA and military flight authorizations, test ranges and airspace, FCC and spectrum licensing, and the government compliance obligations that support our missions.

This is a hands-on role. You will find viable operating locations, write the submissions, work directly with regulators and range authorities, book the airspace, and translate every approval into a practical plan for engineering and flight operations. You will work with the CEO, business team, engineers, flight crews, and specialist advisers to keep approvals aligned with the build and flight schedule.

## What you'll own

- Airspace and range access. Scout and evaluate test ranges, restricted areas, military operating areas, and launch and recovery sites from the ground to the stratosphere. Build relationships with range safety offices, FAA facilities and air route traffic control centers, airport operators, and military airspace authorities.
- FAA and military approvals. Map the appropriate certification and operating pathway for each aircraft, location, and mission. Own applicable Certificates of Waiver or Authorization, waivers, exemptions, airworthiness approvals and releases, letters of agreement, altitude reservations, and range-specific authorizations.
- Technical submissions. Turn concepts of operations, aircraft performance, command-and-control and lost-link behavior, flight termination, and safety evidence into complete, defensible application packages. Resolve agency questions with engineering and specialist counsel.
- Range scheduling and flight readiness. Reserve range time and airspace against flight milestones. Coordinate NOTAMs, range briefings, and pre-mission requirements. Make authorization conditions, operating limits, and expirations clear to the flight crew.
- FCC and spectrum licensing. Own applicable experimental and operational authorizations, frequency coordination, equipment authorization planning, renewals, and operating conditions. Coordinate with NTIA and government partners when federal spectrum use is involved.
- Exercises and customer deployments. Work with military planners, airspace control authorities, and allied partners on exercise participation, flight clearances, and operational airspace integration. Align approvals with customer missions and deployment timelines.
- Government compliance coordination. Maintain obligations arising from contracts, licenses, permits, and customer requirements. Coordinate applicable FAR/DFARS, ITAR/EAR, and emerging security requirements with internal owners and specialist counsel. Identify future cybersecurity, CMMC, and facility-clearance needs and help scope specialist support as programs mature.
- Regulatory program execution. Maintain a roadmap of submissions, approvals, dependencies, renewals, and risks. Build reusable templates, checklists, training, and audit evidence. Capture lessons from each range and approval, and track policy changes that affect scaled operations.

## What we're looking for

- 5+ years of relevant experience in aviation regulatory affairs, airspace management, UAS operations, range operations, aerospace, or government compliance, including equivalent military experience.
- A record of taking flight authorizations or complex regulatory submissions from technical requirements through approval and practical execution.
- Strong working knowledge of the National Airspace System, special-use and restricted airspace, and FAA authorization pathways beyond routine Part 107 operations.
- Experience with military airspace, range scheduling, exercise planning, or comparable coordination across multiple authorities and operating sites.
- Ability to own FCC/spectrum work alongside aviation approvals, with the judgment to engage technical and legal specialists where needed.
- Strong technical writing and communication. You can interrogate engineering evidence, explain operational risks, and give regulators clear, supportable answers.
- Practical familiarity with government contracting and export-control obligations, with disciplined organization across filings, deadlines, and changing flight schedules.
- U.S. person eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.
- Ability to work at our El Segundo factory five days a week and travel frequently to test ranges, agencies, customers, and exercise locations.

Bonus

- Experience with high-altitude or long-endurance aircraft, BVLOS UAS operations, experimental aircraft, or novel certification programs.
- Hands-on experience with both FAA approvals and FCC experimental or operational licensing; federal spectrum coordination with NTIA or government customers.
- Major multinational exercise planning, an air operations center or airspace control cell, or deployed UAS airspace integration.
- FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, a manned pilot certificate, or an active Secret or Top Secret clearance.
- Built regulatory processes at an early-stage aerospace or defense company. Engineering, aviation, public policy, or legal training is helpful; a law degree is not required.

Our culture = elite sports team. Winning = having fun

- Hyperfocus
- Extreme Ownership
- Radical Transparency

## 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
- Regulatory, airspace, and range planning case discussion
- Meet the flight, engineering, and business team and the CEO

US salary range

$150,000 - $190,000 USD per year in base salary.

Actual salary depends on relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and the scope of the role. Equity and benefits are additional components 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.

## About Icarus

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Icarus builds solar-powered, autonomous stratospheric aircraft (called "birds") that operate above 60,000 feet for weeks at a time, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance, and connectivity.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed VC stage)
- **Headquarters**: El Segundo, California, United States (also has a flight test area in the Mojave Desert)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Henry Kwan (founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense & Space Manufacturing / Aerospace
- **Target customers**: Government and defense agencies (ISR, communications), plus commercial sectors such as agriculture, construction, energy, insurance, transportation, and urban planning.
- **Mission/purpose**: "Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere."

## Products & Services
- **[APOLLO](https://www.icarus.one/)**: A fully solar-powered, autonomous aircraft that flies at ~60,000 ft for weeks without landing. It offers persistent wide-area coverage (7,500 km²), ultra-low latency (5–10 ms, fiber-like), direct-to-device high-bandwidth connectivity, and real-time high-resolution sensing. Deployed in hours, reusable and upgradeable. Type: Hardware (UAV) + Service (data/connectivity).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding raised – $500,000 (as of latest Pre-Seed round in Dec 2025)
- **Notable Investors**: Y Combinator (lead investor in latest round), Pioneer Fund, xTech Accelerator, Transpose Platform, Predictive Venture Partners, and others (11+ investors total)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount: 48 employees (as of mid-2026) with +17.6% monthly growth.
  - Active Job Postings: 11, with quarterly growth of +266.7%.
  - First aircraft (APOLLO) successfully flew in 2024 — "no hype, just hardware in the sky."
  - Scaling from R&D to manufacturing and deployment, with a factory in El Segundo.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Stratospheric persistence**: Weeks-long endurance without refueling, unlike satellites (intermittent passes) or drones (limited endurance).
- **Ultra-low latency**: 5–10 ms direct-to-device communication, compared to 25–60 ms for LEO satellites.
- **Weather-immune and threat-resistant**: Operates above weather and most threats, providing continuous coverage.
- **Cost-effective**: Fraction of the cost of satellite-based solutions.
- **Rapid deployment**: Can be airborne in hours, no orbital launch constraints.
- **Full vertical integration**: Designs, manufactures, assembles, and tests everything in-house (L.A. headquarters and Mojave test site).

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling the team across engineering, manufacturing, flight operations, and business.
- Transitioning from prototype to operational deployment (APOLLO in active service).
- Building out a mesh network of stratospheric birds for global persistent coverage.
- Maintaining a "high signal-to-noise" ratio: prioritizing engineers over management, extreme ownership, and rapid iteration.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as an "elite sports team" — high-trust, no-BS, radical transparency, idea meritocracy, extreme ownership. You will work directly with the CEO and own subsystems end-to-end.
- **Work environment**: On-site in El Segundo, CA (engineering, manufacturing, and business nerve center), with frequent field testing in the Mojave Desert (early mornings, hands-on).
- **What you'll do**: Design, build, break, fix, validate, and fly real hardware. No slide decks, no fake projects, minimal meetings.
- **Perks & rewards**:
  - Meaningful equity
  - Top-of-market salary and bonuses
  - Health, dental, and vision insurance
  - Daily lunch and unlimited Celsius
  - Dream desk setup
  - Factory in El Segundo
- **Hiring process**: Technical interview → one-on-one with CEO → meet the team in-person.
- **Open roles**: Manufacturing, Engineering (mechanical, electrical, GNC, RF, software, embedded), Flight Operations, Business Operations, and more.

## Sources
1. [icarus.one](https://www.icarus.one/) – Company homepage, product details
2. [icarus.one/about](https://www.icarus.one/about) – About page, founding story, team, locations
3. [greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/icarus) – Careers page, job listings, culture description
4. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/icarusone) – Funding info, investors, headquarters
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/icarusindustries) – Employee count, growth, company details, financials

## Other roles at Icarus

- [IT Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/it-systems-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-vnft86nyndnh) — El Segundo, CA
- [Quality Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/quality-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-k897vwqmf330) — El Segundo, CA
- [Purchasing Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/purchasing-coordinator-icarus-el-segundo-ccwcvqy2p9r5) — El Segundo, CA
- [Buyer/Planner, Mechanical & Composites](https://feeny.ai/job/buyer-planner-mechanical-composites-icarus-el-segundo-drrwcbfszthp) — El Segundo, CA
- [Buyer/Planner, Electrical](https://feeny.ai/job/buyer-planner-electrical-icarus-el-segundo-errsfv90dy7t) — El Segundo, CA
- [Head of Supply Chain](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-supply-chain-icarus-el-segundo-4t61c89c0rd1) — El Segundo, CA
- [Founding Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-recruiter-icarus-el-segundo-hx348vwqw4re) — El Segundo, CA
- [Warehouse Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/warehouse-associate-icarus-el-segundo-86s1m029qabj) — El Segundo, CA
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- [Network Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/network-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-jrjj80p412s3) — El Segundo, CA