Manufacturing Software Engineer Intern - Winter 2027

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:

At Skydio, we're dedicated to building intelligent flying robots, combining innovative design with cutting-edge technology. Our mission is to make the world more productive, creative, and safe with autonomous flight. We have a deep belief in the transformative power of drones, and our enterprise focus is already making an impact in a wide range of industries across the world.

What makes Skydio different?

• Our drones have the best path-planning and obstacle avoidance thanks to over a decade of R&D in advanced autonomy algorithms.

• We build all parts of the software stack in-house, including embedded systems, middleware, autonomy, cloud infrastructure, manufacturing infrastructure, and automation.

• We design our own hardware to be tightly integrated with our software for maximum performance per gram / per watt.

• We are a U.S. company and manufacture our drones at our factory in California.

As an intern on the Manufacturing Software team, you'll be a core contributor, helping us manufacture high-quality drones, docks and accessories at scale to meet growing customer demands, turning prototypes into finished products. The processes and tools you build will have a significant impact on the company's scale and success.

This team is highly cross-functional. It sits at the intersection of backend (Python + Flask), embedded software (C++/C), frontend (React + Typescript), and electrical engineering (Robotics and Hardware Fixtures).

If you have strong coding fundamentals, thrive on solving and debugging cross-functional challenges, and are passionate about hardware-software systems, this could be a uniquely rewarding opportunity for learning and professional growth.

Our tech:

• Python + Flask backend + on-machine, Protobufs for IPC and RPC

• React + Typescript frontend

• On-premises containerized Linux client machines and servers, AWS backend cloud

• Hardware-in-the-Loop validation systems

• In-house framework for manufacturing and testing operations

Team Project Examples:

• Build and maintain a Hardware-in-the-Loop system for continuous testing of the hardware and software components of our drones and build systems.