Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering for National Security, Defense

Skydio, the leading US drone company and world leader in autonomous flight, is seeking an experienced Solutions Engineering leader to join their team as Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering for National Security, Defense. This role involves leading a team supporting the Department of War, United States Special Operations Command, and the Intelligence Community, focusing on upstream requirements development, evaluations, field trials, system integration, and unit-level enablement across Skydio's end-to-end UAS solutions.

This is a remote role with approximately 50% travel, including regular international travel, to support customer engagements, field activities, deployments, and company events. The role reports to the Director, Solutions Engineering – National Security.

About the Team:

The National Security Solutions Engineering team acts as the technical bridge between customers and Skydio’s product development. They translate mission problems into requirements, conduct field trials, and ensure Skydio’s products are accredited, integrated, and flown at scale, even in contested environments where network, spectrum, and GPS signals are compromised.

The team’s success is measured by technical win rate, evaluation and field trial outcomes, program expansion, and the quality of requirements fed back into the product organization.

Solutions Engineers collaborate closely with Account Executives, Engineering, and Product teams to support deal progression, customer confidence, successful deployments, and the long-term success of federal sUAS programs.

How You’ll Make an Impact:

Lead the team

• Hire, onboard, coach, and retain your team, ensuring clear ownership and coverage across agencies and components in your segment. Develop team members beyond their current roles.

• Set high standards for technical quality in demos, trial plans, integration designs, RFI and RFP responses, and customer-facing documentation.

• Manage capacity across your segment, making strategic decisions on where Solutions Engineering resources are allocated.

• Establish a sustainable operating rhythm for a team that travels extensively, ensuring field presence does not compromise retention.

Drive technical wins

• Develop and execute the technical strategy for pursuits across accounts, including evaluation and down-select strategies, proof of concept and field trial designs, and technical narratives that differentiate Skydio.

• Serve as the senior technical escalation point for critical pursuits, deployments, and customer issues, actively working problems and being present in the field when necessary.

• Collaborate with Sales leadership on pipeline, forecast, and account planning, focusing on the land-and-expand motion to convert pilot programs into programs of record.

Own the defense problem set

• Shape requirements upstream by engaging with program offices, capability development staffs, and operators early to ensure solicitations reflect actual capabilities.

• Prepare the team to compete in exercises and operational assessments, recognizing that these are often the primary proving grounds.

• Develop and maintain expertise in accreditation paths, including ATO, impact levels for cloud hosting, NIPR and SIPR employment, cross-domain considerations, and compliance with NDAA, Blue UAS status, and various procurement programs.

• Guide integration strategies with existing systems like TAK, MANET radios, tactical C2 and fires applications, and mission-planning environments.

• Manage the airworthiness and airspace picture across service lines, including service flight clearances, shipboard considerations, BVLOS approvals, waivers, COAs, and range and installation approvals.

• Understand and design test plans for employment in contested and degraded environments, ensuring honest assessments and avoiding overpromising.

Represent the customer inside Skydio

• Act as the aggregated voice of the customer to Product and Engineering, translating field observations into prioritized, defensible requirements.

• Develop enablement content, reference architectures, and reusable technical assets to support team scaling and maintain first-hand product knowledge through hands-on use.

What Makes You a Good Fit:

• At least 5+ years of relevant technical experience, including time in a customer-facing technical role supporting defense customers.

• 5+ years of federal government or defense experience in a discipline relevant to UAS, such as operations, maintenance, ISR, test and evaluation, acquisition, or training.

• At least 1+ year leading a technical team, either formally or as a technical lead with hiring and mentorship responsibilities. First-time managers with a strong record of leading and developing people in operational environments will be considered.

• Demonstrated understanding of defense acquisition processes, from requirements development through evaluation, award, and fielding.

• Technical depth in at least one core area: UAS platforms, RF and datalink systems, EO/IR and other sensor payloads, software integration and APIs, cloud and data architecture, or government IT security.

• Comfort operating within a Sales organization, including owning a quota, deal strategy, and making informed decisions on resource allocation.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to brief operators, program managers, and general officers effectively.

• Lead by example and be willing to do whatever is necessary to resolve customer situations.

Nice to Have:

• Direct experience supporting SOCOM or its components (NSWC, MARSOC, AFSOC, USASOC, JSOC), a Theater Special Operations Command, or Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Space Force units.

• Prior military UAS operator, maintainer, or instructor certification.

• Experience with shipboard, small boat, or maritime UAS employment, including launch and recovery from a moving deck.

• Experience in contested or degraded environments, including mission planning, CONOPS, and TTP development for small UAS.

• Hands-on experience with MANET radios and secure communications (TSM, TrellisWare, Silvus, Persistent Systems) and familiarity with counter-UAS and airspace deconfliction.

• Experience navigating RMF packages or ATOs from the vendor side, and familiarity with OTAs, prototype agreements, or SBIR Phase III transitions.

• Familiarity with foreign disclosure, ITAR, and FMS processes.

• Working knowledge of Salesforce, Palantir, Databricks, or equivalent tools.

What Is Required:

• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time, including regular international travel.

• Ability to lift up to 60 lbs unaided.

• Active Secret or Top Secret security clearance, or the ability to obtain one.

• Obtaining FAA Part 107 certification within the first 60 days of employment is strongly encouraged.