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Salary: USD 230,000 - 285,000 / annual
Skydio is the leading US autonomous drone company, serving defense, public safety, and enterprise customers. The company is seeking a Telecom Partnerships & Business Development Manager to lead strategic collaborations with major telecom carriers, ensuring Skydio's drones have reliable connectivity wherever customers operate them.
In this role, you will develop and execute the company's telecom carrier engagement strategy across the US, North America, and internationally. You'll translate customer connectivity needs into partnership agreements with carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, negotiating network access and data plans that are simple for end users. You'll own the business models for in-flight data access, monitor usage and costs, and validate assumptions in the field.
Key responsibilities include: setting regulatory and telecom certification priorities to ensure drones meet operator standards; building field relationships between telecom partners and Skydio's teams to support major events and deployments; managing complex technical certification programs and business negotiations; and supporting mission-critical customer incidents.
You'll need a demonstrated track record of translating customer needs into actionable priorities and driving implementation through complex, multi-stakeholder environments. A technical background (engineering, computer science, telecommunications, or scientific field) is required. You should be comfortable breaking down complex challenges into meaningful steps and communicating plans across internal and partner organizations.
Nice-to-haves include prior growth-stage startup experience, familiarity with wireless communications (bit rates, QoS, network operations), telecom industry experience (carrier or supplier like Cisco/Nokia/Ericsson), and interest in 5G applications for airborne devices. This is a full-time, in-office position at Skydio's San Mateo headquarters requiring 5 days/week onsite.
About Skydio
Defense / GovTech; Industrial — autonomous drones for defense, public safety, and enterprise.
