Autonomy Lead — Real-World UAV Systems

Skyways; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, dental & vision

Paid time off

Paid holidays

401k

Life insurance

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Skyways designs, builds, and operates autonomous long‑range cargo aircraft, transitioning from prototype to production. This leadership role owns the autonomy stack and mentors a cross‑functional team, shaping ML, perception, and planning to deliver reliable mission execution in real operations.

You will lead architecture tradeoffs, hands‑on development, and integration with GNC and aircraft systems, driving fleet‑scale deployment at Skyways in Austin.

Qualifications

• Experience building and deploying autonomy systems on real robotic or UAV platforms.
• Experience leading and developing engineers, including direct people management or a clear track toward it
• Strong system-level understanding across perception, estimation, and planning, with depth in at least one area
• Experience taking autonomy systems from development through operational deployment and iteration
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python
• Experience debugging real‑world autonomy failures using logs, telemetry, and system‑level analysis
• Experience working across software, hardware, and flight or field operations; ability to make practical engineering tradeoffs under real operational constraints
• Experience improving ML or perception systems using real-world operational data

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end autonomy stack across perception, estimation, planning, and system behavior
• Lead, manage, and grow a team of autonomy engineers, including hiring, onboarding, performance, and development
• Be accountable for your team's output, technical standards, morale, and retention
• Define system architecture and make tradeoffs across reliability, performance, and operational complexity
• Set technical direction for autonomy while remaining hands‑on in critical technical areas
• Drive integration across autonomy, GNC, mission planning, and aircraft systems
• Own how autonomy is validated across simulation, ground testing, and flight operations
• Use flight data, telemetry, and operational feedback to identify failures and improve system performance
• Drive how datasets, evaluation pipelines, and iteration loops improve deployed autonomy systems
• Debug real‑world autonomy failures and close gaps between controlled testing and operational deployment
• Work closely with flight operations and hardware teams to improve reliability in real environments

Skills

Autonomy systems

Team leadership

C++

Python

ROS2

ML / perception

Real-world deployment

Systems engineering

Tools

ROS2

Job description

Skyways designs, builds, and operates autonomous long‑range cargo aircraft, transitioning from prototype to production. This leadership role owns the autonomy stack and mentors a cross‑functional team, shaping ML, perception, and planning to deliver reliable mission execution in real operations.

You will lead architecture tradeoffs, hands‑on development, and integration with GNC and aircraft systems, driving fleet‑scale deployment at Skyways in Austin.