Autonomy Simulation Engineer Intern — Robotics

Skydio; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 96,000; Full time

Job summary

Skydio, the leading US drone company, is seeking a Research Intern to join a world-class computer vision and deep learning team. You will architect and implement algorithms that run on every Skydio drone, paired with mentors from our core software dev group.

You will work on simulator architecture, physics and dynamics, sensor modeling, and integration of the autonomy stack, contributing to real product capabilities while learning state-of-the-art techniques.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering experience with C++ and Python.
• Experience building complex systems where performance, determinism, or correctness matter.
• Comfort reasoning about time-synchronized systems, state machines, or real-time execution.
• Ability to work in a large, evolving codebase with multiple stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and evolve the foundational architecture of the Skydio Simulator, scalable across vehicle types and use cases.
• Improve and extend physics models governing vehicle motion and interactions with the environment.
• Build high-fidelity simulations of cameras, IMUs, and other hardware components.
• Run and validate the full autonomy stack in simulation to ensure real-world consistency.
• Implement simulator capabilities that unlock new workflows for training and testing.
• Profile, optimize, and improve simulator performance while pushing realism and accuracy.

Skills

C++

Python

Real-time systems

Large codebase

Robotics interest

Job description

Skydio, the leading US drone company, is seeking a Research Intern to join a world-class computer vision and deep learning team. You will architect and implement algorithms that run on every Skydio drone, paired with mentors from our core software dev group.

You will work on simulator architecture, physics and dynamics, sensor modeling, and integration of the autonomy stack, contributing to real product capabilities while learning state-of-the-art techniques.