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Salary: USD 230,000 - 325,000 / annual
Skydio is the leading US autonomous drone company, serving defense, public safety, and enterprise customers. This role leads the mechanical engineering team responsible for developing Skydio's next-generation winged platform, the F10, which features robotic takeoff and landing (RTOL) capabilities for extended missions and higher speeds.
You will manage a mechanical systems team tasked with architecting, developing, and refining the structures, mechanisms, and solutions that enable autonomous flight at scale. Your responsibilities span the full product lifecycle: from concept and prototype through production and mass manufacturing. You'll lead the mechanical development of both the F10 winged vehicle and its ground systems/dock.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading the development of a cutting-edge vehicle platform, integrating compute, sensors, connectivity, and aerodynamics
- Managing the mechanical team and overseeing delivery of the F10 ecosystem to market
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams (product, electrical engineering, flight core, software, quality, program management, supply chain, manufacturing, testing, operations) to drive new product development from prototype through mass production
- Making key architecture and technology downselections considering aerodynamics, weight, thermal, and reliability implications
- Designing mechanical parts and assemblies for aircraft, ground stations, and accessories from the ground up
- Integrating custom PCBAs, flex circuits, antennas, and cable harnesses with electrical engineers
- Owning technical vendor relationships in partnership with operations and supply chain
- Defining and executing engineering tests to evaluate system trade-offs
- Supporting internal manufacturing and factory teams with assembly processes, quality criteria, and inspection standards
- Investigating failures with attention to detail and root-cause analysis
You bring deep mechanical and/or aerospace engineering expertise with proven team leadership. You have a track record of delivering technically challenging products with excellence and execution. You excel at system-level design, mapping technical dependencies, and translating complex requirements into execution. You have hands-on experience in aerospace or aviation design, applying first-principles thinking to mechanical, thermal, and systems-integration challenges. You're proficient in 3D CAD (CATIA strongly preferred) and experienced with diverse manufacturing processes including injection molding, metal casting, CNC machining, sheet metal forming, and composites. You combine strategic thinking across design, sourcing, building, validation, and shipping with a passion for elegant mechanical design at all levels of detail.
About Skydio
Defense / GovTech; Industrial — autonomous drones for defense, public safety, and enterprise.
