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 some of the hardest perception problems in autonomous flight.
You will develop computer vision systems for autonomous landing, targetless landing zone evaluation, and perception-driven navigation in real operating environments. Your work will directly impact how aircraft identify safe landing areas, operate in degraded environments, and complete missions reliably without prepared infrastructure.
You will work across perception, sensor fusion, and flight systems to improve how aircraft understand terrain, obstacles, and environmental conditions during autonomous operations.
The ideal candidate has experience deploying perception systems on real robotic, automotive, or aerial platforms and understands the challenges of reliability, integration, and operational performance at system level.
You will work closely with autonomy, GNC, and flight operations teams to take systems from development through flight testing and operational deployment.
What You'll Do:
Develop and deploy computer vision systems for autonomous landing and landing zone evaluation
Build perception systems for targetless landing in unstructured and dynamic environments
- Mentor junior perception engineers and raise the quality bar for how perception systems are designed, tested, and deployed
Develop algorithms for terrain understanding, obstacle detection, and environment classification
Work with onboard camera, IMU, GPS, and other sensor data in real flight environments
Improve system performance using operational flight data, testing, and iteration
Collaborate across autonomy, GNC, and flight operations teams to integrate perception into flight behaviors
Debug perception and autonomy issues observed during simulation, ground testing, and flight operations
Contribute to software architecture, testing, integration, and deployment workflows
What You'll Bring:
5+ years of experience developing and deploying computer vision or perception systems in real-world environments
Strong proficiency in C++ and Python
Experience with perception systems for robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones, or aerospace platforms
Experience working with real sensor data and operational deployment constraints
Strong understanding of camera systems, sensor fusion, and state estimation concepts
Experience debugging and improving deployed perception systems using logs, telemetry, or flight data
Ability to operate effectively in fast-moving engineering environments
Strong communication and collaboration skills
Bonus Points If You Have:
Experience with autonomous aircraft or aerial robotics
Experience with landing zone evaluation, terrain classification, or visual navigation systems
Background in SLAM, visual odometry, or GPS-denied navigation
Experience with embedded or real-time systems
Familiarity with ROS2 or similar robotics frameworks
Experience deploying perception systems to resource-constrained platforms
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
- 5+ years of experience in developing, testing, and deploying algorithms
- Strong proficiency in C++ and/or Python
- Solid understanding of sensor fusion principles and practical experience with diverse sensor types
- Prior experience in aerospace, autonomous vehicles, or drone technology
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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