Field Readiness Lead - Solutions Engineering

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.

About the Role

Skydio is seeking an experienced operations leader to join our team as Manager, Solutions Operations. This role owns the technical operations the Solutions Engineering organization runs on: the headquarters demo program and the aircraft, docks, and environment behind it, the capture of flight, imagery, and integration content, and the library that holds all of it. You will lead live demonstrations for VIP customers, partners, and government visitors alongside Skydio leadership on a regular basis, and you will use what you own to bring new Solutions Engineers and Solutions Specialists up to speed and keep the field current on new capability.

This role is cross vertical. It touches every part of Solutions Engineering across National Security, SLED, Commercial, and the Launch Team, and it works with the account teams, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Training, and Sales Enablement those teams depend on. The hard part is pace and breadth. Product ships faster than any one SE can track, the organization is hiring across the globe, and each vertical has its own customers and workflows. This seat is how the demo standard, the content, and the ramp stay consistent without four directors rebuilding the same thing.

This role is based at Skydio headquarters in San Mateo, California. Travel of approximately 15% is required to capture content in the field, support field teams, and support company events. If you have most of what is listed below and are confident you can learn the rest, we want to hear from you.

This role reports to the VP, Solutions Engineering.

About the Team

Solutions Engineering is the technical arm of Skydio's go-to-market motion. We sit between the customer and the product: turning operational problems into program designs, proving capability in the field, and making sure Skydio's products are used, integrated, and flown at scale.

This seat is measured on the readiness and quality of the demonstrations that run out of headquarters, on how current and used the content library is, and on time to productivity for new Solutions Engineers and Specialists.

Solutions Engineers are critical members of the Skydio organization and work closely with Key Account Leaders, Engineering, and Product to support deal progression, customer confidence, successful deployments, and the long-term success of Public Safety sUAS programs.

How You'll Make an Impact

Run the HQ demo program

• Lead live demonstrations at headquarters for VIP customers, customer summits, partners, press, and government visitors, presenting with Skydio executives, from a short flight to a full dock and command software walkthroughs.

• Own the demo environment: aircraft, docks, network, controllers, and props, plus the pre-flight discipline that keeps a demonstration from failing in front of a chief.

• Maintain airworthiness, batteries, firmware, and spares so the fleet is ready to fly on short notice, and coordinate demo scheduling and dock availability with the teams that share the site.

• Set the demo standard the rest of the organization runs against.

Own the content and the library

• Plan and run capture missions, including flights, imagery, scans, and dock deployments, that produce the footage, data, and screenshots the whole organization uses.

• Build demo scripts, reference architectures, and trial plan templates out of what the strongest Solutions Engineers already do, rather than inventing a parallel standard.

• Own the library. One place, one version, findable in under a minute. Run a review cadence against the release calendar, retire what is stale, and track what actually gets used.

• Capture integration and competitive material: what the platforms our customers already run actually do, where Skydio wins, and what an honest answer sounds like where it does not.

Enable the team

• Own onboarding for new Solutions Engineers and Solutions Specialists: the curriculum, hands-on flight and dock time, the shadowing plan, and the checkpoints that tell a manager a new hire is ready to run a customer engagement alone.

• Ingest new product and technical developments as they land, get hands on with pre-release capability, and translate each release into what the field needs to know, say, and show.

• Work across every vertical and function. Build enablement once, in a form each team can adapt, and partner with Sales Enablement and Training so the field gets one coordinated program.

Represent the customer inside Skydio

• Be a source of ground truth on how the product actually demonstrates and how quickly people can learn it. You will see every rough edge repeatedly, and earlier than almost anyone.

• Turn what you see into prioritized, defensible feedback to Product and Engineering rather than a list of one-off asks.

What Makes You a Good Fit

• 5+ years in a technical operations, field operations, customer-facing technical, or enablement role.

• Hands-on sUAS operating experience and the judgment to fly safely and legally in front of an audience.

• Comfortable presenting live to senior executives and customers, and steady when something does not go to plan.

• A track record of building technical content or programs that other people actually used.

• Fast at learning new technology and clear at explaining it, and comfortable working across many teams with different customers, priorities, and vocabulary.

• Familiarity with DFR concepts of operation and dock based remote operations.

• Organized and consistent. A demo fleet, a library, and a ramp program only work when someone maintains them.

• Lead by example. Willing to do whatever is needed to get a customer situation resolved.

Nice to Have

• Experience running a demo center, lab, or fleet operation.

• Prior public safety service or agency UAS program experience.

• Experience with dock-based, remote, or BVLOS operations at scale.

• Video and photo production skills for demo and enablement content.

Working knowledge of public safety technologies such as CAD and VMS, or of Salesforce and learning platforms such as Uplimit.

What Is Required

• Obtaining FAA Part 107 certification within the first 60 days of employment is strongly encouraged for all Skydio employees and required for certain positions.

• Ability to work on site at Skydio headquarters in San Mateo, California.

• Ability to travel approximately 15% of the time.

• Ability to lift up to 60 lbs unaided.
  
  Compensation: 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. The annual base salary range for this position is $170,000 - $215,000*. 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 401K savings plan. 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.

*Compensation for certain positions may vary based on the position’s location.

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At Skydio we believe that diversity drives innovation. We have created a multidisciplinary environment that embraces the power of diverse perspectives to create elegant solutions for complex problems. We are committed to growing our network of people, programs, and resources to nurture an inclusive culture.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by federal, state or local anti-discrimination laws.

For positions located in the United States of America, Skydio, Inc. uses E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit https://www.e-verify.gov/