About
Jacob Balaj has held integration and test engineering roles across multiple aerospace companies, including SpinLaunch, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Orbit, and SpaceX, where he worked on Falcon 9/Heavy systems and booster refurbishment processes. He previously served as avionics quality assurance engineer on MV-22 tiltrotors for the US Marine Corps.
Founder at Hop AeroYC S26
Intro paths
Jacob went through Y Combinator (Summer 2026) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.
Their group partner at YC was Tyler Bosmeny, General Partner at Y Combinator — the partner who ran Hop Aero's batch and knows the company first-hand. YC profile ↗
In turn, Jacob can intro founders to Hop Aero's investors below.
Hop Aero's investors · 1
Co-founders at Hop Aero
Experience
- HopCo-Foundercurrent2024 — presentOrange County, California, United States
- SupernalSystem Test and Evaluation2024
- DZYNE TechnologiesVehicle Ground Check2023 — 2024
- SpinLaunchSatellite Production and Test2022 — 2023
- Masten Space SystemsLead Systems Integration and Test Engineer2020 — 2022Mojave, California, United States
- Masten Space SystemsSystem Integration And Test2020 — 2022Mojave, California, United States
- Virgin OrbitIntegration and Test2018 — 2020Long Beach, California, United States
- SpaceXFinal Integration and Test/ Booster Refurbishment2016 — 2018Hawthorne, California, United States
- United States Marine CorpsAvionics Quality Assurance2011 — 2016Okinawa, Japan - Jacksonville, North Carolina
Skills & more
- edX Verified Certificate for Structured Database Environments with SQL — edX
- edX Verified Certificate for Scripting with Python — edX
From Jacob's professional profile.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Jacob Balaj?
- Jacob Balaj has held integration and test engineering roles across multiple aerospace companies, including SpinLaunch, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Orbit, and SpaceX, where he worked on Falcon 9/Heavy systems and booster refurbishment processes. He previously served as avionics quality assurance engineer on MV-22 tiltrotors for the US Marine Corps.
- Where does Jacob Balaj work?
- Jacob Balaj is Founder of Hop Aero.
- What companies did Jacob Balaj found?
- Jacob Balaj founded Hop Aero.
Founder mafias
Y Combinator mafia8,773
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 8,766 more
Masten Space Systems mafia2
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
SpinLaunch mafia2
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
