Jacob Balaj

Building Rocket Cargo at Hop Aero (YC S26)

Co-founder

Hop Aero· Summer 2026🇺🇸 Costa Mesa, California, United States

in LinkedIn

2024Co-founder· Hop

Founder · since 2024

Company

Hop

Role

Co-Founder

current

Stage

—

no public source

Raised

—

no public source

Based

Orange County, California, United States

current

Founder / co-founder — the company's markEmployee / research role

Source: LinkedIn work history

Profile coverage4 of 7 · missing education, posts, contact

Hop Aero

Rocket cargo delivery to contested environments

Summer 2026

Experience

Career

Hop
Co-founder
Co-Founder · Orange County, California, United States · 2024 – Present
2024
Supernal
System Test and Evaluation · 2024
2024
DZYNE Technologies
Vehicle Ground Check · 2023 – 2024
2023
SpinLaunch
Satellite Production and Test · 2022 – 2023
2022
Masten Space Systems
Lead Systems Integration and Test Engineer · Mojave, California, United States · 2020 – 2022
2020
Masten Space Systems
System Integration And Test · Mojave, California, United States · 2020 – 2022
2020
Virgin Orbit
Integration and Test · Long Beach, California, United States · 2018 – 2020
2018
SpaceX
Final Integration and Test/ Booster Refurbishment · Hawthorne, California, United States · 2016 – 2018
2016
United States Marine Corps
Avionics Quality Assurance · Okinawa, Japan - Jacksonville, North Carolina · 2011 – 2016
2011

Bio

Founder at Hop Aero. Previously Integration & Test Engineer at SpinLaunch (satellites), Lead Systems Integration & Test at Masten Space Systems (lunar lander for NASA's CLPS program), and Integration & Test at Virgin Orbit (LauncherOne) and SpaceX (Falcon 9/Heavy—built booster refurbishment process, cut test time in half). Earlier avionics QA on MV-22 tiltrotors in the US Marine Corps.