Senior Software Engineer, Skydio
Data Platform
$180-240k
+ Stock Options
Office located in San Mateo, CA
Autonomous drones for DFR, inspection, and national security
Be an early applicant
Autonomous drones for DFR, inspection, and national security
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$180-240k
+ Stock Options
Office located in San Mateo, CA
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To make the world more productive, creative, and safe with autonomous flight.
Role
Who you are
- 5+ years of professional experience, including 2+ years in software engineering and 2+ years in data engineering with a bias towards getting your hands dirty
- Deep experience with Databricks building pipelines, managing datasets, and developing dashboards or analytical applications
- Proven track record of operating scalable data platforms, defining company-wide patterns that ensure reliability, performance, and cost effectiveness
- Proficiency in SQL and at least one modern programming language (we use Python), and comfort working across the full data stack — from ingestion and transformation to orchestration and visualization
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across all levels and functions — from engineers and analysts to senior leadership — and to translate data into clear narratives and decisions
- Demonstrated ability to lead technical direction, mentor teammates, and promote engineering excellence and best practices across the organization
- Familiarity with AI-assisted data workflows, including tools that accelerate data transformations or enable natural-language interfaces for analytics
- Experience in robotics, IoT, or autonomous systems, or building data systems that integrate with real-world hardware
What the job involves
- We are looking for a foundational member of the Data Team to enable Skydio to make data-driven decisions and build data-centric products
- You’ll build the systems that collect, transform, and store data from tens of thousands of autonomous drones, powering insights that make our vehicles smarter, safer, and more capable.
- You’ll have the opportunity to define our data architecture, champion modern tooling in Databricks and Palantir Foundry, and bring AI-assisted analytics to every corner of the company
- This is not a back-office data role — you’ll be working on problems at the intersection of autonomy, AI, and massive-scale telemetry, helping Skydio turn raw flight data into intelligence that drives real-world impact!
- Design and scale the data infrastructure that ingests live telemetry from tens of thousands of autonomous drones — reliably, efficiently, and with the scale to support the next generation of flight intelligence
- Build and evolve our Databricks and Palantir Foundry environments to empower every Skydian to query data, define jobs, and build dashboards — turning raw telemetry into accessible, actionable insights
- Develop data systems that make our products truly data-driven — from predictive analytics that anticipate hardware failures, to 3D connectivity mapping, to in-depth flight telemetry analysis that sharpens drone performance
- Create and integrate AI-powered tools for data analysis, transformation, and pipeline generation — lowering the technical barrier and democratizing how teams access and build with data
- Champion a data-driven culture by defining and enforcing best practices for data quality, lineage, and governance, keeping Skydio’s data lakehouse secure, performant, and cost-effective at scale
- Collaborate with autonomy, manufacturing, and operations teams to unify how data flows across the company — enabling faster, smarter decision-making and unlocking AI-driven insights end-to-end
- Lead and mentor data engineers, analysts, and stakeholders across Skydio — guiding teams toward better architecture, more reliable data models, and a shared culture of excellence
- Ensure platform reliability by implementing robust monitoring, observability, and contributing to the on-call rotation for critical data systems
- Examples of what you’ll help build;
- Predictive models that forecast hardware issues — like propeller or battery failures — before they happen, and automatically trigger the right mitigation steps
- 3D maps of cellular and radio connectivity across the operational airspace, helping customers understand where their drones can safely and reliably fly
- The company-wide data lakehouse that powers analytics, dashboards, and machine learning — built to be secure, scalable, and lightning-fast
- AI-driven data tools that let anyone at Skydio explore data, uncover insights, and build pipelines for their use cases — all in a truly self-serve way
Our take
A leader in autonomous flight, Skydio builds drones that can track and film targets while avoiding obstacles. Its products have a wide range of applications, most notably for businesses that need to undertake inspections in unsafe places. The drones are also valuable to search and rescue efforts, police forces, and the US army.
Backed by a range of top investors and strategic partners (including Andreesen Horowitz, Levitate Capital, and Next 47) Skydio sets itself apart from its competitors by marketing its products predominantly to businesses. With technology such as 3D scanning and a 360-degree superzoom mode, its drones have a wide range of applications and functionality.
The company raised funding in 2023, which has boosted its valuation to over $2B. It has since focussed on R&D, developing and launching the X10 model which is designed for first responders and the military, as well as enhancing its remote control and thermal imaging capabilities. On top of this it's also been awarded two contracts to expand the use of advanced autonomous drones across key operational units by the US Air Force. As the largest American drone company, there is no reason Skydio shouldn't remain a key industry actor for years to come.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
24% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Nov 2024
$170m
SERIES E
Feb 2023
$230m
SERIES E
Total funding: $741m
Company HQ
Western Hills, San Mateo, CA
Leadership
Adam Bry
(Co-Founder & CEO)Having studied at MIT, they spent a year and a half at Google as a Software Engineer. They left this position in February 2014 to co-found Skydio.
Abraham Bachrach
(Co-FOunder & CTO)Earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and was a Software Engineer for Google's Project Wing.
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