Head of Operations

<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&utm_medium=web&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;">Head of Operations</h2> <ul> <li>Icarus is hiring a Head of Operations to help turn a fast-moving aerospace startup into a world-class hardware company.</li> <li>This is one of the most important hires at Icarus.</li> <li>You will work directly with the CEO to build the operating system of the company: people, facilities, manufacturing operations, supply chain, finance operations, legal/admin, recruiting operations, business rhythm, and the internal systems required to scale from a small team of builders into a category-defining aerospace company.</li> <li>This is a wartime operations role.</li> <li>You will be expected to unblock the company every day, create order out of chaos, and make the entire team faster.</li> <li>You will operate across the factory floor, leadership team, engineering, manufacturing, finance, government programs, and recruiting.</li> <li>This role has the potential to grow into Chief Operating Officer.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What you’ll do</h2> <ul> <li>Own company operations across facilities, people operations, recruiting operations, vendor management, procurement, finance/admin workflows, legal coordination, and internal systems.</li> <li>Build the operating cadence of the company: weekly leadership meetings, department rhythms, KPI tracking, company goals, hiring plans, project follow-through, and accountability loops.</li> <li>Help scale our El Segundo factory into a high-output aerospace manufacturing and flight-test operation.</li> <li>Partner with engineering and manufacturing leads to remove blockers, improve throughput, tighten execution, and keep the team focused on the highest-priority work.</li> <li>Build lightweight systems for onboarding, purchasing, inventory, facilities, documentation, compliance, security, IT, and internal communication.</li> <li>Drive special projects for the CEO, especially cross-functional projects that do not fit neatly into one department but are critical to the company.</li> <li>Help prepare the company for the next stage of growth, including larger facilities, more complex programs, more hires, more customers, and higher operational intensity.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p> </p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What we’re looking for</h2> <ul> <li>You are an elite operator. You get things done.</li> <li>You are organized, intense, low-ego, and allergic to bureaucracy.</li> <li>You can operate at 60,000 feet and on the factory floor in the same day.</li> <li>You can build systems without slowing the company down.</li> <li>You are comfortable working directly with the CEO and senior technical leaders.</li> <li>You can manage chaos, make decisions with incomplete information, and create clarity for the team.</li> <li>You have extremely high ownership. When something is broken, you fix it. When something is unclear, you clarify it. When something is moving too slowly, you accelerate it.</li> <li>You do not need hand-holding. You find the problem, create the plan, and drive it to completion.</li> <li>Prior experience in startups, aerospace, defense, manufacturing, hardware, operations, consulting, finance, or military leadership is helpful, but not required. Raw horsepower, judgment, ownership, and execution matter most.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">Why Icarus</h2> <ol> <li>A lot of 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 (but growing very fast)</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 ops job</h2> <ol> <li>We are pioneers, not corporate managers.</li> <li>Icarus deliberately optimizes for high signal to noise. Engineering, manufacturing, flight, and execution matter more than process, politics, or management overhead.</li> <li>Your job is not to add bureaucracy. Your job is to make the company move faster.</li> <li>You will work side by side with the CEO and a small team of world-class builders. You will help build the company behind the aircraft: the factory, the team, the systems, the rhythm, the culture, and the operational backbone that lets us move faster than companies 10x our size.</li> <li>We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight.</li> <li>We want builders. No hand-holding. No fluff. No fake projects. No sitting in meetings all day. Just real execution, real hardware, real flight, and real company-building.</li> <li>You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, solve problems across functions, and push the company to operate at a higher level every week.</li> <li>We move fast. We go to Mojave at 4 am. We expect results and an obsession with quality and speed.</li> </ol> <p>No tourists. No bystanders. Only builders.</p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">Hiring process</h2> <ol> <li>Intro call</li> <li>Working session with CEO</li> <li>Meet the team in-person</li> <li>Reference checks</li> </ol> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">US salary range</h2> <p>$150,000 - $500,000 USD</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>