Product Design Engineer

San Mateo, California, United States - Full‑time

Skydio’s mechanical systems are the backbone of reliable autonomous flight. As part of the sustaining engineering team, you will ensure that our aircraft, ground systems, and supporting hardware continue to deliver world‑class performance in the field. You’ll apply a deep understanding of mechanical design, manufacturing processes, and root‑cause analysis to improve reliability, manufacturability, and serviceability across our product portfolio – delivering robust, scalable solutions to keep our fleets flying and our customers confident.

Own mechanical system design and reliability across aircraft, ground systems, controllers, and other key pieces of the Skydio hardware ecosystem. Ensure that documentation, drawings, and BOMs remain current, controlled, and optimized for long‑term production.

Design and validate continuous improvements that enhance performance, quality, and cost through analytical modeling, prototyping, and rigorous testing.

Sustain and evolve released designs
, ensuring that documentation, drawings, and BOMs remain current, controlled, and optimized for long‑term production.

Lead failure analysis and corrective actions (FACA), identify root causes, and implement design or process improvements based on field and test data, performing detailed failure analysis and developing robust, long‑term fixes.

Work closely with manufacturing, operations, and quality teams to resolve supplier and production challenges, driving continuous improvement in yield and manufacturability.

Collaborate with cross‑functional teams including electrical, wireless, software, and manufacturing engineering to address multi‑disciplinary issues such as mechanical‑electrical interfaces, environmental sealing, and vibration robustness.

Support vendor qualification and processes
, ensuring mechanical components meet quality and performance expectations over the lifetime of our products.

Contribute to DFM and DFA initiatives
, simplifying assemblies, improving manufacturability, reducing part cost, and improving part and assembly yield.

Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent with a strong foundation in mechanical design and product reliability.

Deep curiosity with 3+ years experience hands‑on development, testing and delivery of highly reliable complex systems.

Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot, root‑cause, and resolve mechanical, quality, assembly issues in volume production environments.

Proven experience in product design, sustaining or reliability engineering
, particularly within complex electromechanical systems or consumer products.

A passion for continuous improvement
, balancing speed and precision to enhance quality, reliability, and user experience.

Expertise in 3D CAD (CATIA is a bonus) and familiarity with PLM systems for mechanical drawings, with attention to detail in tolerance analysis, GD&T.

Demonstrated hands‑on experience supporting assembly lines, FATP processes, and production factory environments
.

Deep understanding of injection molding, die casting, CNC machining, and sheet metal, plus familiarity working with electronics like PCBAs, cable assemblies and interconnects.

Strong communication and collaboration skills working with domestic and international suppliers and multidisciplinary engineering and manufacturing teams.

Experience with
data‑driven engineering using test data and field metrics to inform design or process improvements.

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 $140,000- $225,000*. 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…