Senior Hardware Test and Reliability Engineer

Senior Hardware Test and Reliability Engineer

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.

We are seeking a driven and versatile Senior Hardware Test and Reliability Engineer to help drive safety and reliability initiatives, develop and execute test plans that enable rapid design iteration and robust product validation for state‑of‑the‑art autonomous flying machines servicing a broad range of enterprise, public safety, and defense applications.

• Work with product development, embedded software, quality, manufacturing, and suppliers to define and execute comprehensive test strategies from early prototyping stages through volume production, enabling earliest possible discovery of failure modes for complex electro‑mechanical autonomous systems.
• Lead technical test strategy and own validation planning, execution and risk management from early prototypes through volume production.
• Collaborate with electrical, mechanical and software engineering teams to perform failure analysis, identify root cause, implement corrective actions, resolve system issues, and help develop process/design mitigations.
• Contribute to design reviews and provide key design‑for‑reliability inputs to mitigate risks from first prototypes to first customer shipment and beyond.
• Immense a keen interest in contributing across multiple domains to make Skydio products the default choice for users in challenging environments.
• Immerse yourself in massive data sets from developmental flight telemetry and robust customer analytics to identify problems before they occur, perform risk assessments, develop prognostic and condition‑based maintenance protocols, and anchor our reliability test specs firmly in data.

• Deep curiosity with 6+ years experience hands‑on testing, development and delivery of highly reliable complex electro‑mechanical systems with an emphasis on high‑density PCBA test engineering and debugging.
• Proven experience leading technical validation programs end‑to‑end, with accountability for test strategy, execution quality, and overall system readiness.
• Strong EE testing experience coupled with good mechanical intuition desired to rapidly drive failure analysis.
• Extensive knowledge of the physics of failure and integration risks of one or more critical electronics and mechanical subsystems such as compute systems, electro‑mechanical or electronic sensors.
• Proficient in Python and/or SQL to adeptly manage and analyze large datasets or script efficient automated testing; uncovering correlations and trends between our drones, their operational environments, and diverse use cases.
• A passion for communicating the nuances of hardware reliability to internal and external cross‑functional teams to help drive organizational priorities.

At Skydio, our compensation packages for regular, full‑time employees include competitive base salaries, equity in the form of stock options, and comprehensive benefits packages. Compensation will vary based on factors, including skill level, proficiencies, transferable knowledge, and experience. Relocation assistance may also be provided for eligible roles. The annual base salary range for this position is $170,000‑$226,250. Fundamentally, we believe that equity is the key to long‑term financial growth, and we ensure all regular, full‑time employees have the opportunity to significantly benefit from the company's success.

Regular, full‑time employees are eligible to enroll in the Company’s group health insurance plans. Regular, full‑time employees are eligible to receive the following benefits: paid vacation time, sick leave, holiday pay and 401(k) savings plan. This…