<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 People</h2> <p><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">This is for exceptional candidates only. You will be the first HR hire at a ~50-person defense tech company, joining a People team of one (our Founding Recruiter). You will build HR at Icarus from zero: the systems, the policies, the compliance, and the culture that let engineers build and fly.</span></p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What you’ll own</h2> <p></p> <ol> <li data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">HR infrastructure: select and run the HRIS, payroll, and benefits stack; own open enrollment and broker/PEO relationships.</li> <li>Compliance: California and federal employment law, multi-state compliance as we hire outside CA, I-9/E-Verify, and wage-and-hour (exempt vs. non-exempt, overtime, meal and rest breaks for factory and field teams).</li> <li>Defense requirements: partner with security and legal on ITAR/export-control hiring checks, security clearance processes, and government contract labor requirements.</li> <li>Onboarding and offboarding: a fast, repeatable process from signed offer to first flight.</li> <li>Employee relations: be the trusted, discreet point of contact for concerns, investigations, and hard conversations.</li> <li>Compensation and equity: build leveling, salary bands, and an equity grant framework with the CEO & Recruiter.</li> <li>Performance and growth: lightweight review cycles and feedback that engineers actually value.</li> <li>Policy: a lean handbook, leave, PTO, travel, and safety policies that hold up legally and fit how we work.</li> <li>Scale: partner with our Founding Recruiter to grow from ~50 to 200+ people without losing the culture.</li> </ol> <p></p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">What we’re looking for</h2> <p></p> <ol> <li data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">6+ years of HR experience, including at least 2 years as the first or sole HR leader at a startup.</li> <li>Deep working knowledge of California employment law and wage-and-hour rules.</li> <li>Experience supporting hourly manufacturing, technician, or field teams alongside salaried employees.</li> <li>Experience at a hardware, aerospace, or defense company. Familiarity with ITAR, export controls, or security clearance processes.</li> <li>Sound judgment and discretion handling sensitive employee relations issues and investigations.</li> <li>Hands-on and operational. You will run payroll and fix the spreadsheet yourself.</li> <li>Comfortable working directly with a CEO and moving at startup speed.</li> <li>Able to work on-site in El Segundo, 5 days a week.</li> <li>Must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR.</li> </ol> <p></p> <h2 style="color: #0000ee;">Bonus</h2> <ol> <li><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">Built HR from scratch before: HRIS, payroll, benefits, handbook, and core processeses</span></li> <li><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">Experience scaling a company from ~50 to 200+ people</span></li> <li><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">Experience with government contracts, FAR/DFARS labor requirements, or affirmative action plans </span></li> </ol> <p><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody"></span></p> <p></p> <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 HR job</h2> <p></p> <ol> <li data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">We are pioneers, not corporate managers. HR here exists to help engineers build, test, and fly. Not to add process and politics.</li> <li>You will work side by side with the CEO and our Founding Recruiter. You own HR end to end, from strategy to the paperwork.</li> <li>We expect full extreme ownership. There is no HR team behind you. You are the team, and you will build it.</li> <li>You will cover the full stack: compliance, payroll and benefits, onboarding, employee relations, performance, compensation, and policy.</li> <li>We want builders. No hand-holding. No fluff. No 40-page handbooks nobody reads. Lightweight systems that work at 50 people and scale to 200+.</li> <li>You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, and make sound calls with inco