Staff Software Engineer — Autonomous Flight Systems

Skyways; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 175,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Paid time off

Paid holidays

401k

Life insurance

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Skyways, based in Austin, is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to set technical direction for software that flies. You will work across SkyNav, backend services, telemetry, and autonomous aircraft software, owning architecture and standards at the Staff level.

You will mentor engineers, drive high-impact work in avionics integration, and shape how AI tools are used across engineering, data analysis, debugging, and operator tools.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience across multiple teams.
• Deep production proficiency in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and C++.
• Experience designing distributed systems, APIs, and observability at scale.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and evolution of Skyways software stack across SkyNav, backend services, telemetry, and aircraft software.
• Set technical standards for the software team and raise the quality bar through design and reviews.
• Lead high-risk work: ArduPilot C++ fork architecture and avionics integration.
• Design SkyNav's 3D visualization and mission planning architectures with JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Scale telemetry hub to maintain real-time fleet data reliability.
• Apply AI/ML to create real value and guide tool usage across engineering.
• Drive cross-functional alignment among GNC, robotics, and hardware teams with clear plans.
• Mentor engineers, write design docs, and shape engineering practices at Skyways.

Skills

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript

C++

System architecture

Distributed systems

AI/ML

Mentoring

Aviation/Autonomy

Tools

ArduPilot

PX4

Electron

CesiumJS

Three.js

WebGL

CI/CD tools

Job description

Skyways, based in Austin, is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to set technical direction for software that flies. You will work across SkyNav, backend services, telemetry, and autonomous aircraft software, owning architecture and standards at the Staff level.

You will mentor engineers, drive high-impact work in avionics integration, and shape how AI tools are used across engineering, data analysis, debugging, and operator tools.