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Salary: USD 196,000 - 245,000 / annual
Skydio is seeking an experienced Solutions Engineering leader to build and run a multi-team organization for SLED (State, Local, Education, and Corrections) across the United States and Canada. This is a leader-of-leaders role reporting to the VP of Solutions Engineering.
The SLED Solutions Engineering team is the technical arm of Skydio's state and local go-to-market motion, sitting between agencies and the product organization. The team turns operational problems into program designs, proves capability in the field, and ensures Skydio's autonomous drone products are used, integrated, and deployed at scale. You will own technical outcomes across the vertical and serve as the technical counterpart to the VP of SLED Sales.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead the Leaders: Recruit, hire, and develop Senior Managers; create pathways for strong Solutions Engineers into first management roles. Hold managers accountable to segment outcomes rather than activity counts. Scale the organization without compromising quality standards. Own the operating rhythm including forecast reviews, capacity decisions, and escalation paths.
Drive Technical Wins: Own the technical win across all SLED and the coverage model pairing Solutions Engineering to sales. Partner with VP of SLED Sales on segmentation, territory design, and headcount with defensible positions. Represent SLED in forecasts, planning, and executive reviews; surface technical risks early.
Own the SLED Problem Set: Own site assessment quality as a performance measure. Hold the bar on proofs of concept as structured deployments tied to active opportunities with measurable value. Guide integration and airspace strategy including CAD, dispatch, video management, streaming platforms, BVLOS approvals, waivers, COAs, and docked operations. Maintain command of public sector procurement including cooperative contracts, grant programs, and buying cycles.
Represent the Customer Inside Skydio: Aggregate customer voice to Product and Engineering, turning field observations into prioritized requirements. Build enablement content, reference architectures, and reusable technical assets. Maintain first-hand product knowledge through frequent hands-on use.
Travel of approximately 30% is required to support customer engagements, field activities, deployments, team onsites, and company events.
Requirements:
- 8+ years of relevant technical experience, including time in a customer-facing technical role
- 2+ years leading leaders; track record of managing managers or managing a team large enough to require a second layer
- Record of building organizations through fast growth—hiring, onboarding, and retaining technical people at volume
- Strong understanding of drone technology, Public Safety sUAS operations, and regulatory compliance, including Drone as First Responder concepts and dock-based remote operations
- Working knowledge of Public Safety technologies including CAD, VMS, and related software platforms; ability to lead integration discussions
- Fluency in commercial business: coverage models, forecast discipline, deal strategy, and judgment on committing technical resources
- Experience with state and local government procurement, cooperative contracts, grant programs, and public sector buying cycles
- Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to brief operators, program managers, and executives without changing facts
- Lead by example; willing to do whatever is needed to resolve customer situations
- Ability to travel approximately 30% of the time
- Ability to lift up to 60 lbs unaided
- FAA Part 107 certification strongly encouraged within first 60 days and required for certain positions
Nice to Have:
- Prior public safety service as sworn officer, firefighter, or agency UAS program lead
- Experience standing up Drone as First Responder program from waiver through go-live with dock-based, remote, and BVLOS operations at scale
- Familiarity with grant funding pathways and cooperative purchasing vehicles for state and local agencies
- Working knowledge of Salesforce, Palantir, Databricks, or equivalents
- Track record of building and scaling technical team through rapid growth
About Skydio
Defense / GovTech; Industrial — autonomous drones for defense, public safety, and enterprise.
