Senior Data 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 looking for a foundational member of the Data Team to enable Skydio to make data-driven decisions and build data-centric products.

• Predictive models that forecast hardware issues — like propeller or battery failures — before they happen, and automatically trigger the right mitigation steps.
• 3D maps of cellular and radio connectivity across the operational airspace, helping customers understand where their drones can safely and reliably fly.
• The company-wide data lakehouse that powers analytics, dashboards, and machine learning — built to be secure, scalable, and lightning-fast.
• AI‑driven data tools that let anyone at Skydio explore data, uncover insights, and build pipelines for their use cases — all in a truly self‑serve way.

• Design and scale the data infrastructure that ingests live telemetry from tens of thousands of autonomous drones — reliably, efficiently, and with the scale to support the next generation of flight intelligence.
• Build and evolve our Databricks and Palantir Foundry environments to empower every Skydian to query data, define jobs, and build dashboards — turning raw telemetry into accessible, actionable insights.
• Develop data systems that make our products truly data‑driven — from predictive analytics that anticipate hardware failures, to 3D connectivity mapping, to in‑depth flight telemetry analysis that sharpens drone performance.
• Create and integrate AI‑powered tools for data analysis, transformation, and pipeline generation — lowering the technical barrier and democratizing how teams access and build with data.
• Champion a data‑driven culture by defining and enforcing best practices for data quality, lineage, and governance, keeping Skydio’s data lakehouse secure, performant, and cost‑effective at scale.
• Collaborate with autonomy, manufacturing, and operations teams to unify how data flows across the company — enabling faster, smarter decision‑making and unlocking AI‑driven insights end‑to‑end.
• Lead and mentor data engineers, analysts, and stakeholders across Skydio — guiding teams toward better architecture, more reliable data models, and a shared culture of excellence.
• Ensure platform reliability by implementing robust monitoring, observability, and contributing to the on‑call rotation for critical data systems.

• 5+ years of professional experience, including 2+ years in software engineering and 2+ years in data engineering with a bias towards getting your hands dirty.
• Deep experience with Databricks or Palantir Foundry, including building pipelines, managing datasets, and developing dashboards or analytical applications.
• Proven track record of operating scalable data platforms, defining company‑wide patterns that ensure reliability, performance, and cost effectiveness.
• Proficiency in SQL and at least one modern programming language (for example, Python or Java), and comfort working across the full data stack — from ingestion and transformation to orchestration and visualization.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across all levels and functions — from engineers and analysts to senior leadership — and to translate data into clear narratives and decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical direction, mentor teammates, and promote engineering excellence and best practices across the organization.
• Familiarity with AI‑assisted data workflows, including tools that accelerate data transformations or enable natural‑language interfaces for analytics.
• Bonus:
  Experience in robotics, IoT, or autonomous systems, or building data…