Flight Operations Inspector Jobs in Santa Ana, CA

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.

The Flight Operations Engineer takes our aircraft from the hangar to the sky and back, and owns the technical depth behind every flight. You set up the test site, prepare the aircraft, run preflight, operate it in flight, and troubleshoot whatever comes up. You also write the procedures, configure the systems, and analyze the data that make each flight better than the last. When Icarus goes to the field, you are both the operator and the engineer in the loop.

Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere.

Set up the site and the aircraft

• Analyze and verify test site conditions to ensure successful conduct of a flight test; sound judgement in aviation safety, preflight analysis of atmospheric conditions, and adherence to regulations.
• Assemble, configure, and prepare aircraft for flight, including mechanical, electrical, and payload setup.
• Run preflight inspections and checklists, and make the call on whether the aircraft is ready.
• Configure and verify the ground control station, telemetry links, and mission plan before every flight.

Fly

• Prescribe autonomous mission sets and operate the aircraft in flight by modifying software characteristics, ensuring efficient execution of the test plan.
• Monitor telemetry and aircraft health in real time and respond to anomalies in the moment.
• Act as the calm, decisive voice on the sticks when something goes wrong in the air.
• Run launch and recovery, including any non-traditional takeoff and landing configurations.

Engineer the operation

• Write and refine test plans, test cards, checklists, and standard operating procedures.
• Configure and tune autopilot, GCS, and aircraft software parameters.
• Analyze flight logs and telemetry, run root cause analysis, and write up quick-look and formal test reports.
• Build tooling and scripts that speed up setup, data review, and field operations.
• Own the technical interface between flight operations and the engineering team.

Troubleshoot and turn around

• Diagnose and fix mechanical, electrical, and software issues in the field to keep the test campaign moving.
• Refurbish and reset the aircraft between flights and prepare it for the next sortie.
• Drive the next iteration based on what the data and the flight told you.

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or software engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience in aviation or aviation-adjacent military occupational fields.
• 3+ years of UAS, flight test, or aircraft operations experience, or equivalent military experience.
• Demonstrated ability to set up, preflight, operate, and recover an unmanned aircraft.
• Strong technical troubleshooting across mechanical, electrical, and software systems.
• Proficiency with ground control station software.
• Strong Linux command line skills for debugging, scripting, and troubleshooting.
• Calm, decisive judgment under pressure, especially with an aircraft in the air.
• Strong communicator, non-negotiable.
• High trust, extreme ownership, no ego.

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
• Experience with developmental flight test, first-flight events, or build-up test programs.
• Background building RC or UAS aircraft (SAE Aero, Design Build Fly, or serious hobbyist).
• FAA Airframe and Powerplant license or military aviation maintenance background.
• Aviation-adjacent military specialty with "air sense" (JTAC, CCT, etc).
• Experience operating in austere or remote field environments.

1. Meaningful equity
2. Top market salary and bonuses
3. Health, dental, and vision insurance
4. Factory in El Segundo
5. Real ownership, real hardware, real flight
6. Small team, massive responsibility
7. High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture
8. Dream desk setup
9. Daily lunch
10. Unlimited celsius

1. 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.
2. You will work side by side with engineers because you are one. You will own the aircraft in the field end to end. Set it up. Preflight it. Fly it. Analyze it. Fix it. Fly it again, better.
3. We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight, especially in the field.
4. We want operators, not bystanders. No simulators standing in for the real thing. No watching others fly. Just real aircraft, real test sites, and real flight.
5. You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, and produce in the field. We move fast. We go to Mojave at 4 am in the morning. We expect results and an obsession with quality and speed.
6. You will be the engineer on the sticks when our aircraft climbs to 60,000 ft. If you want to own both the flight and the data behind it, this is it.

No tourists. No bystanders. Only builders.

1. Phone screen
2. Technical and operations assessment
3. Meet the flight and engineering team in-person

$120,000 - $180,000 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.