Hop Aero

PitchBook · Supports Organization · employee range, Organization · x url

“employee_range: 1-10 (profile: 6)”

LinkedIn · Supports Organization · employee range

“employee_range: 1-10 (profile: 2-10 employees)”

Y Combinator · Supports Organization

“Hop Aero”

Y Combinator · Supports Organization

“Hop Aero”

FinSMEs · Oct 1, 2026 · Supports Funding round

“USD11m in seed funding.”

LinkedIn (Hop Aero) · Sep 30, 2026 · Supports Funding round, Funding round · amount, Organization · ownership

“Funding led by Initialized Capital”

Hop Aero · Supports Organization, Organization · name, Role

“### Matija Milenovic Co-founder & CEO”

LinkedIn via Bright Data · Supports Organization · logo, Organization · url, Organization metric · employees in linkedin, Organization metric · followers

“{"logo": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4D0BAQGkkf-zLyyukQ/company-logo_200_200/company-logo_200_200/0/1731533804376/hop_aero_logo?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=YFMyi_79sycw2VC_V4NJIhYW3RS8ExdTlCf1f21ywDo"}”

LinkedIn via Bright Data · Supports Job posting · job listing

“{"company_id": "102275858", "company_name": "Hop Aero", "company_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/hopaero?trk=public_jobs_topcard-org-name", "job_employment_type": "Full-time", "job_location": "Orange County, CA", "job_posted_time": "2 weeks ago", "job_posting_id": "4466282966", "job_seniority_level": "Entry level", "job_summary": "Hop Aero is a venture-backed startup building rockets that deliver cargo anywhere on Earth in minutes. Our mission is to enable resilient global logistics to protect and improve our way of life. Our founding team has prior experience founding a satellite startup and taking it to orbit, launching 20+ Falcon 9 missions at SpaceX, and leading engineering teams at some of the world’s most advanced aerospace organizations. The company is well-capitalized through venture funding and government contracts. About the role We’re hiring a Propulsion Mechanical Engineer to own the development of electric propellant pumps (e-pumps) and high-speed rotating machinery for Hop Aero’s rocket propulsion systems. This is a foundational technical role. You will establish our internal electric-pump capability from first principles, taking hardware from early architecture and analysis through detailed design, manufacturing, test, and ultimately flight. You will also work on designing key mechanical interfaces in the propulsion system. We’re looking for someone who is comfortable owning difficult hardware problems end-to-end. You should be equally happy running a cavitation or rotordynamics analysis, reviewing an impeller design, talking through tolerances with a machine shop, instrumenting a test article, and standing next to the test stand when it runs. This is not a narrow analysis role. You will work directly with propulsion, fluids, avionics, manufacturing, software, and test teams to develop tightly integrated propulsion hardware in a fast-moving environment. Job Description Serve as the responsible engineer for electric propellant pumps and associated high-speed rotating machinery Own electric-pump development from architecture through design, manufacturing, integration, and test Design pump components including impellers, inducers, volutes, housings, shafts, bearings, and seals Design propulsion component interfaces, sealing surfaces, flanges, mounting features, and related mechanical hardware Integrate high-power-density motors, inverters, controllers, sensors, and associated electrical systems Perform hydraulic, cavitation, rotordynamic, structural, and thermal analysis Define mechanical, fluid, electrical, and software interfaces with the engine and vehicle teams Develop practical manufacturing strategies and work directly with machine shops and suppliers Plan, instrument, and execute electric-pump development testing Analyze pressure, flow, vibration, temperature, current, and speed data to diagnose hardware performance Own technical risks through design reviews, test-readiness reviews, and development campaigns Work in person with the team at our shop in Orange, CA. Requirements 3-6 years of relevant engineering experience in centrifugal pumps, high-speed rotating equipment, turbomachinery, or similar fluid machinery Demonstrated ability to design, build, and test rotating mechanical hardware Strong understanding of pump hydraulics, cavitation, rotordynamics, bearings, seals, balancing, and high-speed shaft systems Experience taking mechanical hardware from analysis and CAD through manufacturing and test Experience working directly with machine shops, vendors, and manufacturing suppliers Ability to interpret pressure, flow, vibration, temperature, current, and rotational-speed data Ability to work effectively across propulsion, fluids, avionics, software, manufacturing, and test disciplines Willingness to be highly hands-on in a small, fast-moving hardware organization Must be a US Person under ITAR - Hop Aero will not sponsor visas for this role. Nice to have Experience with rocket-engine turbopumps or electric propellant pumps Experience integrating high-power-density electric motors and inverters Experience with very high-speed shafts, bearings, seals, and rotating assemblies Experience with additively manufactured impellers, volutes, housings, or other propulsion components Experience developing cryogenic or other demanding fluid systems Experience transitioning development hardware into repeatable flight hardware Prior experience at a fast-moving aerospace or hardware startup What we offer Competitive salary and meaningful stock options Healthcare, office meals & snacks Direct mentorship and collaboration with founders & engineers with rich flight heritage Significant technical ownership from day one Fast upward mobility as the company grows Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we’d still love to hear from you. Greatness looks different in every one of us - and we need the best tackling this problem. Show more Show less", "job_title": "Propulsion Mechanical Engineer", "timestamp": "2026-10-05T05:42:43.949Z"}”

LinkedIn via Bright Data · Supports Job posting · job listing

“{"company_id": "102275858", "company_name": "Hop Aero", "company_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/hopaero?trk=public_jobs_topcard-org-name", "job_employment_type": "Full-time", "job_location": "Orange County, CA", "job_posted_time": "2 weeks ago", "job_posting_id": "4466603760", "job_seniority_level": "Mid-Senior level", "job_summary": "Hop Aero is a venture-backed startup building rockets that deliver cargo anywhere on Earth in minutes. Our mission is to enable resilient global logistics to protect and improve our way of life. Our founding team has prior experience founding a satellite startup and taking it to orbit, launching 20+ Falcon 9 missions at SpaceX, and leading engineering teams at some of the world’s most advanced aerospace organizations. The company is well-capitalized through venture funding and government contracts. About the role We’re hiring a Lead Hypersonic Reentry Engineer to own the analysis, design, and development of Hop Aero’s atmospheric reentry capability. This is a foundational technical role spanning hypersonic aerodynamics, aerothermal environments, thermal protection, trajectory trades, vehicle design, testing, and flight-hardware development. You will help define how our vehicles survive high-speed atmospheric flight and repeated reentry while remaining practical, manufacturable, and rapidly reusable. We’re looking for a broad reentry engineer who can operate across disciplines. You should be comfortable building first-principles models, running CFD, evaluating TPS concepts, working with structures and GNC teams, designing experiments, and using test data to close the loop between simulation and real hardware. This is not purely a CFD or thermal-analysis role. You will be expected to make vehicle-level engineering decisions, own hardware and test programs, and help take the reentry system from early analysis through flight. Job Description Serve as the responsible engineer for hypersonic reentry, aerothermal environments, and thermal-protection systems Define vehicle aerodynamic and heating environments across hypersonic entry, atmospheric deceleration, and descent Develop first-principles and numerical models for hypersonic aerodynamics, convective heating, radiative heating, and conductive heat transfer Perform CFD and other high-fidelity analysis for high-speed atmospheric flight Develop aerodynamic and aerothermal databases for use by GNC, structures, propulsion, and vehicle-design teams Support trajectory and vehicle-shape trades to balance range, heating, stability, control authority, and structural loads Evaluate and select TPS architectures, materials, coatings, insulation systems, and attachment concepts Perform coupled aero-thermal-structural analysis to inform vehicle geometry and hardware design Assess thermal margins, hot spots, shock interactions, boundary-layer effects, uncertainties, and off-nominal environments Define and execute material, coupon, component, and subsystem test campaigns Work directly with suppliers and manufacturing teams to develop practical, repeatable reentry hardware Correlate analytical models with ground-test and flight-test data Develop instrumentation strategies for temperature, heat flux, pressure, strain, and related diagnostics Support wind-tunnel, arc-jet, high-enthalpy, and flight-test campaigns as applicable Translate reentry environments into requirements for structures, propulsion, avionics, GNC, and vehicle systems Own hypersonic reentry technical risks through design reviews, test-readiness reviews, and flight-readiness reviews Work in person with the team at our shop in Orange, CA Requirements 5-10 years of relevant experience in hypersonics, reentry, high-speed aerodynamics, aerothermal engineering, thermal protection, or closely related fields Strong understanding of compressible flow, hypersonic aerodynamics, heat transfer, boundary layers, shock interactions, and high-temperature gas dynamics Experience modeling aerodynamic and aerothermal environments for high-speed vehicles Experience with CFD and numerical methods for hypersonic or thermally challenging flows Experience translating analytical results into vehicle-level design decisions Understanding of reentry trajectory trades, vehicle stability, aerodynamic loading, and thermal constraints Understanding of thermal-protection materials, insulation systems, structural heating, and thermal interfaces Ability to plan experiments, interpret aerodynamic and thermal test data, and correlate models against real measurements Ability to work directly with GNC, structures, propulsion, manufacturing, materials, and test teams Willingness to be hands-on with test articles and flight hardware Must be a US Person under ITAR - Hop Aero will not sponsor visas for this role. Nice to have Experience with atmospheric reentry vehicles, hypersonic vehicles, launch vehicles, missiles, or spacecraft Experience developing reusable reentry or thermal-protection systems Experience with arc-jet, plasma, wind-tunnel, shock-tunnel, or other high-enthalpy testing Experience with ceramic, metallic, ablative, or composite TPS materials Experience with coupled CFD/FEA or conjugate heat-transfer analysis Experience developing aerodynamic or aerothermal databases across large flight envelopes Experience with hypersonic trajectory optimization or vehicle-shape optimization Experience taking reentry hardware from analysis through ground test and flight Experience on DoD or U.S. Air Force high-speed flight programs Prior experience at a fast-moving aerospace or hardware startup What we offer Competitive salary and meaningful stock options Healthcare, office meals & snacks Direct collaboration with founders & engineers with rich flight heritage Significant technical ownership from day one The opportunity to define the hypersonic reentry architecture of a new class of reusable vehicle Fast upward mobility as the company grows Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we’d still love to hear from you. Greatness looks different in every one of us - and we need the best tackling this problem. Show more Show less", "job_title": "Lead Hypersonic Re-Entry Engineer", "timestamp": "2026-10-05T05:42:43.007Z"}”

LinkedIn via Bright Data · Supports Job posting · job listing

“{"company_id": "102275858", "company_name": "Hop Aero", "company_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/hopaero?trk=public_jobs_topcard-org-name", "job_employment_type": "Full-time", "job_location": "Orange County, CA", "job_posted_time": "1 week ago", "job_posting_id": "4469766738", "job_seniority_level": "Entry level", "job_summary": "Hop Aero is a venture-backed startup building rockets that deliver cargo anywhere on Earth in minutes. Our mission is to enable resilient global logistics to protect and improve our way of life. Our founding team has prior experience founding a satellite startup and taking it to orbit, launching 20+ Falcon 9 missions at SpaceX, and leading engineering teams at some of the world’s most advanced aerospace organizations. The company is well-capitalized through venture funding and government contracts. About the role We’re hiring a Thermal Protection Systems Engineer to develop the thermal protection that enables our rocket-powered cargo vehicles to withstand high-speed atmospheric flight and reentry. Your work will directly shape the vehicle’s design, thermal performance, and ability to be reused. This is a hands-on role for someone with roughly five or more years of relevant experience who enjoys connecting analysis to real hardware. You will own TPS development from requirements and material selection through design, manufacturing, integration, and testing. You will work alongside structures, aerodynamics, GNC, propulsion, and manufacturing to turn thermal requirements into flight hardware. Job Description Own thermal-protection development from requirements and concept selection through hardware testing and vehicle integration Translate aerodynamic heating environments into TPS requirements, thermal margins, and verification plans Evaluate materials, insulation, coatings, and TPS architectures against thermal performance, mass, manufacturability, inspection, and reuse requirements Develop thermal models and work with structures and mechanical engineers on attachments, interfaces, and thermal expansion Plan and execute material, coupon, and component tests; define instrumentation and correlate models with measured results Work directly with suppliers and manufacturing partners to build repeatable hardware and resolve manufacturing issues Support vehicle integration, ground and flight testing, and post-test inspection to guide design improvements Work in person with the team at our shop in Orange, CA Requirements 5-10 years of relevant experience in thermal protection, high-temperature aerospace hardware, aerothermal engineering, or a closely related field Strong understanding of heat transfer and experience applying thermal analysis to hardware design Experience developing or evaluating thermal-protection materials or systems, including their integration with surrounding hardware Demonstrated ability to take engineering work through design, manufacturing or procurement, and testing Experience interpreting experimental data, investigating discrepancies, and validating analytical models Ability to make practical tradeoffs across thermal performance, mass, structural interfaces, cost, and manufacturability Willingness to work directly with hardware and collaborate across engineering disciplines Willingness to travel domestically to support testing, including between our headquarters in Orange, CA, and our out-of-state test site Must be a U.S. person under ITAR — Hop Aero will not sponsor visas for this role. Nice to have Experience with reentry vehicles, hypersonic flight, reusable spacecraft, or other demanding aerospace thermal environments Experience with ablative, ceramic, metallic, or composite thermal-protection systems Experience with arc-jet, plasma, wind-tunnel, or other relevant thermal testing Familiarity with CFD, aerothermal environment prediction, or coupled thermal-structural analysis Experience with temperature and heat-flux instrumentation, flight-data correlation, or post-flight inspection Experience designing for refurbishment, repair, or repeated use What we offer Base salary of $120,000–$180,000, depending on experience and scope, plus stock options Healthcare, office meals, and snacks Direct collaboration with founders and engineers with extensive flight experience Ownership of a defined vehicle capability, with a direct connection between your engineering decisions and hardware performance Opportunity to grow your career path within a fast-growing company. Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we’d still love to hear from you. Show more Show less", "job_title": "Thermal Protection Systems Engineer", "timestamp": "2026-10-05T05:42:43.951Z"}”