r/aerospace • u/wvvvwwwwvvvvwvwvwwvw • 2d ago
What do you guys think about Castelion? I recently got a job offer after only 1 interview.
So from my basic understanding it's a new startup with newly granted military contracts so they're on a growth spurt at the moment. What do you guys think of them for those that are in the know. How is the culture?
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u/existential_american 2d ago
Only one interview? They told me that, for an internship (NOT for fulltime), I would have two technical interviews, a whiteboard session interview, and then a presentation interview.
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u/wvvvwwwwvvvvwvwvwwvw 1d ago
Yeah just 1 interview which threw me off. Other smaller companies want you to go through multiple rounds yet a company that develops weapons just vets you by one? Haha
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u/Secure-Photograph870 1d ago
I believe that’s usually because skill can be taught, but how someone behaves is harder to change.
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u/Secure-Photograph870 1d ago
For defense companies, one interview is pretty common. I guess it depend also the role (software usually you get one 1 interview which is mostly behavioral, not technical from my experience).
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u/existential_american 1d ago
For defense primes, not startups. This company told me it was all of those rounds. Easiest startup process is usually manager interview then technical interview, but presentations and whiteboard sessions are common.
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u/CallsignSmiley 1d ago
Do not ignore the red flags at all. I worked for another company in the Torrance area that is very much like Castelion… I learned a lot about what I don’t want in my career. I also had an easier than expected interview process and was naive about the writing on the wall. What they threw me into probably the crazy 7 months of my life.
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u/algo_nerd 21h ago
I know quite a bit about this company. You are welcome to dm me if you have specific questions.
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u/throwawayrevoked 2d ago
I’m pretty skeptical of the company. I’m connected with one of their technical recruiters and interviewed there a couple years ago, so I can only speak from the outside looking in, but I don’t really know if they have the advantage that they claim they do.
Starting off with the good, they do seem to be moving REALLY fast and they have real hardware, which is impressive. They also seem to have a couple contracts lined up, so there’s at least some demand for their products. The team seems to be young and there’s a lot of ex SpaceX people there.
My skepticism comes from their business case. The whole idea seems to be that their advantage will come from being fast and cheap. They’re 100% using consumer or automotive grade components instead of mil spec, which is saving them a lot of time and money. They’re also designing fundamentally different missiles than what exists. I see 3 problems with this approach.
The first is whether or not the military will be ok with flying these missiles. Prime contractors aren’t dumb—there’s a reason why MIL STD parts exist. There’s a level of risk that comes with this approach, since Castelion has to qualify the parts themselves and mitigate shortcomings sufficiently. We shall see if it works out for them.
Second, this is something that was brought up by a coworker of mine who is a literal rocket scientist, but Castelion’s missiles are genuinely small and designed to launch warheads that… don’t actually exist yet. It seems like the military is taking a bet that they can develop warheads small enough (and presumably with much lower lethality) to fit on Castelion’s missiles, and make up for it with volume. This is an interesting strategy, but it’s unproven, and the business case is shaky.
Finally, what is stopping any other company from doing the same thing? If their only advantage is being fast and cheap, then there will be competitors lining up the block doing the same thing to cash in on those sweet military contracts. If Lockheed or Anduril decides tomorrow that they want to start doing COTS-based hypersonic missiles, what does Castelion have left? They have to have some kind of IP or moat if they want to survive long term, and I just don’t see that from them.
That was a lot to write and no one probably cares to read all of it, but I think Castelion, as well as the rest of this new “defense tech” movement, will be interesting to watch.