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Salary: USD 215,000 - 270,000 / annual
Skydio is the leading US autonomous drone company, serving defense, public safety, and enterprise customers. You will lead the Emerging Industries Solutions Engineering team, responsible for validating new use cases and turning them into scalable, repeatable businesses.
You will manage a team of quota-bearing Solutions Engineers who operate at the market's front edge: scoping and executing proofs of concept, defining success criteria where none exist, validating new hardware and software, and determining whether a use case is viable before company investment. You will also oversee Solutions Engineers supporting high-leverage sales channels and Inside Sales Representatives, requiring scalable enablement and repeatable assets.
Key responsibilities include hiring and developing a team with complementary domain coverage across oil and gas, AEC/construction, mining, survey and mapping, and logistics. You will build the qualification framework for new use cases, own technical win rate for Emerging Industries, and lead POC and pilot design across target segments. You will maintain team fluency in survey and mapping workflows (photogrammetry, PPK/RTK, 3D scan, survey-grade accuracy), partner with vendors and Product on payload requirements, and build technical assets that enable segment scaling.
You will represent the customer voice inside Skydio, own the team's PRD output, and build scalable technical assets including reference architectures, demo scripts, and playbooks. You will work closely with GTM, Marketing, Sales leadership, Account Executives, Solutions Specialists, and Deployment Engineers to support deal progression and long-term customer success.
This is a hybrid role based in San Mateo with up to 50% travel required for customer engagements, POCs, field validation, partner activities, and company events. You report to the Director, Solutions Engineering – Commercial.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Prior experience as a Solutions Engineer, Solutions Architect, or equivalent technical pre-sales role in oil and gas, AEC/construction, mining, industrial, or logistics
- Experience running structured proofs of concept with defined success criteria and honest result reporting
- Working knowledge of survey and mapping workflows: photogrammetry, PPK/RTK, 3D scan, survey-grade accuracy standards, and 3D data deliverables
- Familiarity with specialized payloads (optical gas imaging, LiDAR, thermal, RGB) and ability to define vendor requirements
- Experience with integrations, REST-based APIs, and customer data pipeline patterns
- Strong commercial judgment to distinguish genuine markets from interesting demos
- Excellent written and verbal communication, including ability to write clear PRDs and POC reports
- Demonstrated people leadership, including hiring and coaching in emerging segments
- Willingness to do whatever is needed to resolve customer situations
- FAA Part 107 Certificate, or ability to obtain one within 60 days of hire
- Ability to travel up to 50%
- Ability to lift up to 60 lbs unaided
NICE TO HAVE:
- Direct operator or program experience in AEC, oil and gas, mining, rail, or ports
- Experience bringing a new industry segment from first deal to repeatable motion
- Experience with dock-based, remote, and BVLOS operations at scale
- Working knowledge of Salesforce, Jira, Databricks, or equivalents
- Track record of building and scaling a technical team through rapid growth
About Skydio
Defense / GovTech; Industrial — autonomous drones for defense, public safety, and enterprise.
