Our V2 aircraft carries 30 lbs up to 500 miles, while our next-generation V3 carries 100 lbs over 1,000+ miles with 20+ hours of endurance. Both use a hybrid-electric architecture that takes off like a helicopter and cruises like a plane, enabling long-range autonomous delivery without traditional runway infrastructure.
Today, Skyways aircraft operate across three continents in controlled national airspace under FAA oversight and in support of U.S. military operations. We are transitioning from prototype development to full-rate production and scaling toward large autonomous cargo fleets.
Backed by Y Combinator and a $37M AFWERX STRATFI award from the U.S. Air Force, Skyways is creating a new form of transportation to advance our civilization from Austin, Texas.
The Opportunity
This role owns how autonomy works in real-world flight, and it owns the small team that builds it.
You will define how perception, state estimation, planning, and flight behaviors come together into a system that actually completes missions reliably. This is not about building isolated components. It is about making the full stack work under real constraints, and about leading a team of autonomy engineers to do the same.
You will shape how our ML systems improve with real-world data and ensure they perform outside of ideal conditions. You will lead technical direction for autonomy while remaining deeply hands-on in architecture, implementation, testing, and flight debugging. Your work directly impacts mission success, aircraft reliability, and operational deployment at fleet scale.
We are looking for someone who has already built and deployed autonomy systems on real-world robotic or UAV platforms, and who wants to grow a team while staying close to the code.
What You'll Do:
Own the end-to-end autonomy stack across perception, estimation, planning, and system behavior
Lead, manage, and grow a team of autonomy engineers, including hiring, onboarding, performance, and development
Be accountable for your team's output, technical standards, morale, and retention
Define system architecture and make tradeoffs across reliability, performance, and operational complexity
Set technical direction for autonomy while remaining hands-on in critical technical areas
Drive integration across autonomy, GNC, mission planning, and aircraft systems
Own how autonomy is validated across simulation, ground testing, and flight operations
Use flight data, telemetry, and operational feedback to identify failures and improve system performance
Drive how datasets, evaluation pipelines, and iteration loops improve deployed autonomy systems
Debug real-world autonomy failures and close gaps between controlled testing and operational deployment
Work closely with flight operations and hardware teams to improve reliability in real environments
What You'll Bring:
Experience building and deploying autonomy systems on real robotic or UAV platforms
Experience leading and developing engineers, including direct people management or a clear track toward it
Strong system-level understanding across perception, estimation, and planning, with depth in at least one area
Experience taking autonomy systems from development through operational deployment and iteration
Strong proficiency in C++ and Python
Experience debugging real-world autonomy failures using logs, telemetry, and system-level analysis
Experience working across software, hardware, and flight or field operations
Ability to make practical engineering tradeoffs under real operational constraints
Experience improving ML or perception systems using real-world operational data
Bonus Points If You Have:
Experience with autonomous aircraft or aerial systems
Background in robotics, computer vision, or motion planning
Experience with real-time or embedded systems
Familiarity with ROS2 or similar robotics frameworks
Experience deploying autonomy or ML systems to resource-constrained environments
Want to join our mission? Apply to learn more!
Due to U.S. government contract requirements, this role is limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or candidates from specific countries authorized under applicable export control regulations.
Skyways is an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other factor protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.
Skills Required
- Experience owning or driving autonomy systems on real robotic or UAV platforms
- Deep understanding of at least one autonomy domain
- Experience taking systems from early development through real-world deployment
- Strong proficiency in C++ and Python
- Experience working across software, hardware, and field or flight operations
- Experience leading engineers or owning technical direction
Skyways Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Skyways and has not been reviewed or approved by Skyways.
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Healthcare Strength — Employee medical and dental are employer-paid with additional vision and HSA/FSA options noted; core health coverage appears strong for a hardware/robotics startup.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Stock options are offered to every employee and performance bonuses are listed; ownership upside is broadly accessible across the organization.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is described as generous, with paid holidays and generous parental leave highlighted; the breadth of leave supports work-life needs beyond baseline policies.
Skyways Insights
What We Do
We are creating a new form of transportation to advance the future of our civilization. Our story starts with fully autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicles with vertical take-off and landing capability and used for cargo transportation.
Why Work With Us
We are creating a new form of transportation to advance the future of our civilization. Skyways is building fully autonomous cargo aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capability to transform how goods move. Join a small, ambitious team solving hard aerospace and autonomy problems with real world impact.
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