Skyways designs, builds, and operates fully autonomous long range cargo aircraft. Founded in 2017, the company has spent nearly a decade developing and deploying autonomous logistics systems for real world operations.
Our V2 aircraft carries 30 lbs up to 500 miles, and V3 has a maximum range of well over 1,000 miles, a maximum useful load of 100 lbs, and a maximum endurance of nearly 20 hours. 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 fly revenue missions for commercial customers across three continents. We are scaling full rate production and building toward large fleets of autonomous cargo aircraft.
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
Skyways is hiring a Lead Reliability Engineer to own the reliability of our V2 and V3 fleets. As we scale production, every aircraft we build has to fly more often, fail less, and come back to service faster. This person makes that happen.
You will own reliability at Skyways through our Root Cause Corrective Action (RCCA) process. You will set the standard for how we investigate and close issues, and personally drive the hardest ones to a permanent fix. Most of your time, especially in your first six months, goes to hands on technical work: digging through flight data, troubleshooting aircraft, and building solutions across software, electrical, mechanical, and controls.
You will work with everyone who touches the aircraft: engineers, technicians, flight crews, and leadership. When you find the answer, they will understand it and act on it.
What You'll Do:
Lead RCCA: Own every fleet reliability issue from intake through root cause, corrective action, validation, and permanent closure.
Follow the Scientific Method: Form hypotheses, design tests to prove or disprove them, and let evidence decide the root cause.
Solve the Hardest Problems Yourself: Troubleshoot failures across avionics, propulsion, power, EMI, software, and flight controls, and build the fix when that is the fastest path.
Find Problems Before They Fly: Analyze flight logs, telemetry, manufacturing, and maintenance data to spot systemic failure modes and trends early.
Track Fleet Health: Own reliability metrics and reliability growth across V2 and V3, and make the numbers visible to the whole company.
Close the Loop: Feed what you learn into design, manufacturing, maintenance, and flight operations so each new aircraft is more reliable than the last.
What You'll Bring:
Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
10+ years of engineering experience, including 5+ years of hands on reliability engineering on UAV or aviation programs. 15+ years is preferred.
A clear record of measurably improving reliability on aircraft you worked on.
A strongly analytical mindset and a disciplined, evidence driven approach to root cause.
Experience leading RCCA or similar root cause and corrective action work on aircraft.
Hands on troubleshooting range across software, electrical, mechanical, and controls.
Deep command of methods like FMEA, fault tree analysis, 8D, and Weibull analysis.
Proficiency with Python or similar tools for data analysis.
Clear, direct communication with the whole organization: engineering, technicians, flight crews, and leadership.
Bonus Points:
Experience with EMI and EMC investigation and mitigation.
Experience with ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, DroneCAN, or comparable flight control ecosystems.
Experience with hybrid electric propulsion, engines, batteries, or power systems.
In addition to base salary, offers include stock options, so you own part of what you build. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, paid holidays, a 401k, and life insurance.
Relocation assistance is available for candidates moving to Austin.
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
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, systems engineering, or a related engineering field
- 10+ years of engineering experience
- 5+ years of hands-on reliability work on UAV or aviation programs
- Demonstrated improvement of reliability on a UAV or aviation program, such as reduced failure rates, improved MTBF, or increased fleet availability
- Experience building or driving a reliability program, including failure reporting and corrective action systems such as FRACAS
- Hands-on troubleshooting across software, electrical, mechanical, and controls systems
- Working knowledge of FMEA, fault-tree analysis, 8D, Weibull analysis, and reliability growth tracking
- Proficiency with Python, SQL, or similar tools for flight-data analysis
- Clear technical writing and communication skills
- 15+ years of engineering experience with reliability as a core focus
- Experience with ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, DroneCAN, or comparable flight-control ecosystems
- Experience with hybrid-electric propulsion, battery, or engine reliability
- Experience setting maintenance intervals and life limits for a flying fleet
- Experience in a startup or rapid hardware development environment
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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