Staff Full-stack Software Engineer

Perot Jain; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in company

Comprehensive benefits

Relocation assistance available

Job summary

A leading drone technology company in San Mateo, California, is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to build core cloud systems for autonomous drone operations. The role requires strong proficiency in TypeScript, React, and Python, with 8+ years of full-stack experience. This is a hybrid position, requiring three days in the office weekly. The compensation range is $200,000–$275,000 with equity options and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of full-stack software development experience.
• Strong experience with TypeScript, React, GraphQL, and Python.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS.

Responsibilities

• Design and build cloud systems for autonomous drone operations.
• Collaborate closely with product and engineering teams.
• Maintain core fleet management capabilities and develop geospatial systems.

Skills

TypeScript

React

GraphQL

Python

AWS

PostgreSQL

Kubernetes

Geospatial data

Job description

Overview

San Mateo, California, United States - Full-time

Skydio is the leading US drone company and the world leader in autonomous flight, the key technology for the future of drones and aerial mobility. The Skydio team combines deep expertise in artificial intelligence, best-in-class hardware and software product development, operational excellence, and customer obsession to empower a broader, more diverse audience of drone users, from utility inspectors to first responders, soldiers in battlefield scenarios and beyond.

Skydio’s mission is to make the world a safer and more efficient place through the use of autonomous drones. Our customers—from public safety agencies to industrial and enterprise operators—deploy fleets ranging from a single drone to tens of thousands of drones and docking stations to support critical missions such as infrastructure inspection, emergency response, search and rescue, and large-scale mapping.

As a Staff Software Engineer on Skydio’s Fleet Management or Inspection & Mapping teams, you will design and build the core cloud systems that power autonomous drone operations at scale. Your work will enable customers to plan complex aerial missions, manage and monitor large fleets, visualize rich spatial data, and seamlessly integrate drone operations into their workflows.

This is a true full-stack role, combining backend systems in Python and Go with TypeScript and React on the frontend. You will collaborate closely with Autonomy, Backend Infrastructure, Product, Design, and Field teams, owning technical direction and features end-to-end while helping shape Skydio’s long-term platform architecture.

What you’ll do

• Design and evolve Skydio Cloud’s core data models, APIs, and services for drones, docks, users, missions, and the large volumes of telemetry, video, and geospatial data they produce.
• Build and maintain core fleet management capabilities, including real-time fleet health, over-the-air updates, asset and media management, security and permissions, user and device management, and fleet-scale observability.
• Develop geospatial and mission-planning systems that allow customers to plan advanced aerial missions, visualize complex spatial datasets, and operate drones autonomously and safely.
• Design secure, scalable, and highly observable systems capable of handling petabytes of real-time data and video from globally distributed drone fleets.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Backend Infrastructure, and Field teams to rapidly iterate, incorporate customer feedback, and deliver impactful features.
• Provide technical leadership through architecture reviews, code reviews, and proof-of-concepts, helping raise the bar for engineering quality across the organization.
• Participate in a rotating on-call schedule to help ensure Skydio’s platform remains reliable and available 24/7. While reliability is critical, incidents are rare.

What would make you a good fit

• 8+ years of experience building full-stack software systems, with strong proficiency in TypeScript, React, GraphQL, Python, and cloud platforms such as AWS.
• Demonstrated systems thinking: the ability to design end-to-end solutions with performance, reliability, testing, and observability in mind.
• Experience building secure, scalable, enterprise-grade cloud applications and APIs.
• Familiarity with modern infrastructure and tooling such as PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, Temporal, or similar technologies.
• Strong product instincts and the ability to take ambiguous problems and turn them into reliable, customer-facing solutions.
• Experience with geospatial data, mapping, or visualization tools such as Mapbox, Cesium, PostGIS, ArcGIS, or QGIS.
• Experience with photogrammetry, scanning, mapping, or 3D reconstruction pipelines.
• Experience integrating frontend applications with cloud-based services and real-time data systems.
• Familiarity with autonomy, robotics, or mission-planning architectures (e.g., state machines, behavior trees).

Work Location

This role is Hybrid 3 days a week in the office out of our San Mateo, California office. We are flexible on the days but all employees would be expected to commute to our office 3 days a week or relocate closer to the office. Relocation packages are available for eligible candidates.

Compensation

The annual base salary range for this position is $200,000-$275,000. Compensation includes equity in the form of stock options and comprehensive benefits. Relocation assistance may be provided for eligible roles. Eligibility and specifics are governed by Company policies and applicable laws. Some compensation variations may occur based on location.

This position and all associated benefits are subject to applicable federal, state, and local laws, as well as the Company’s policies and eligibility criteria.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Skydio provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability. Skydio is a federal contractor subject to certain governmental recordkeeping and reporting requirements for the administration of civil rights laws and regulations. Employment decisions are made on the basis of job-related criteria without regard to protected characteristics. We invite all applicants to voluntarily self-identify their race, ethnicity, and gender. Submission of the information is voluntary and will be kept confidential. This information may be used in accordance with applicable federal laws and regulations.