---
title: 'Senior RF Engineer at Icarus'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-rf-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-hwegy366hhyn'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Senior RF Engineer at Icarus

- **Company:** Icarus
- **Location:** El Segundo, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-01-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/icarus/jobs/5102744008

## Job description

Icarus was founded on the belief that the Stratosphere is the [Forgotten Frontier](https://henryicarus.substack.com/p/the-forgotten-frontier?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true) 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, build, and fly RF and communications systems for long-endurance stratospheric aircraft
- Own RF subsystems end to end: architecture, link budgets, component selection, integration, test, and flight validation
- Design and integrate radios, antennas, RF front ends, and data links for LOS and BLOS operation
- Drive RF performance through analysis, simulation, bench testing, and flight data
- Lead EMI/EMC mitigation across avionics, power, and payload systems
- Work closely with avionics, GNC, electrical, mechanical, and software teams to deliver robust flight communications
- Support integration, production bring-up, and flight operations in the desert

## What we’re looking for

- 2+ years designing and deploying real RF systems for aerospace, defense, UAVs, or similarly demanding environments
- Strong fundamentals in RF theory, electromagnetics, and communications systems
- Experience with link budgets, antenna design or selection, RF propagation, and system-level trade studies
- Hands-on experience with RF test equipment (spectrum analyzers, VNAs, signal generators, power meters)
- Experience debugging RF systems in the field, not just in simulation
- Comfort working from first principles and validating performance through test and flight data
- Ability to move fast, own outcomes, and operate with minimal supervision

## 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

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

$120,000 - $220,000 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.

## 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

- [Network Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/network-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-jrjj80p412s3) — El Segundo, CA
- [Senior Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-test-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-w0vmx9avct7y) — El Segundo, CA
- [Supply Chain Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/supply-chain-lead-icarus-el-segundo-xwd7x2ddwwzd) — El Segundo, CA
- [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-forward-deployed-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-d7jkesevtnqa) — El Segundo, CA
- [Flight Operations Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/flight-operations-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-w5371jwqaxam) — El Segundo, CA
- [Flight Operations Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/flight-operations-generalist-icarus-el-segundo-sf0zb9thdk33) — El Segundo, CA
- [Flight Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/flight-test-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-yjj5bhg1my2v) — El Segundo, CA
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-499rnx0wb7e4) — El Segundo, CA
- [Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/manufacturing-engineer-icarus-el-segundo-0xeqp3n0xbkg) — El Segundo, CA
- [Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/technician-icarus-el-segundo-ajdtdmzcfbcb) — El Segundo, CA