Senior Reliability Engineer

Job description

Skyways designs, builds, and operates fully autonomous long-range cargo aircraft. Founded in 2017, the company has spent the last eight years developing and deploying autonomous logistics systems for real-world operations. Our V2 aircraft carries 30 lbs up to 500 miles, while our next-generation V3 carries 100 lbs over 1,000+ miles with 20+ hours of endurance. Both use a hybrid-electric architecture that takes off like a helicopter and cruises like a plane, enabling long-range autonomous delivery without traditional runway infrastructure. Today, Skyways aircraft operate across three continents in controlled national airspace under FAA oversight and in support of U.S. military operations. We are transitioning from prototype development to full-rate production and scaling toward large autonomous cargo fleets. Backed by Y Combinator and a $37M AFWERX STRATFI award from the U.S. Air Force, Skyways is creating a new form of transportation to advance our civilization from Austin, Texas. **The Opportunity** Skyways is hiring a Senior Reliability Engineer to lead technical investigations and drive closure of reliability issues across our active V2 and V3 aircraft fleets. In this role, you will serve as the technical owner for Root Cause Corrective Action (RCCA) activities. You will work closely with Flight Test, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, Manufacturing, and Operations teams to investigate failures, validate corrective actions, and improve fleet reliability. If you enjoy solving difficult technical problems, digging through flight data, working hands-on with hardware, and collaborating across multiple disciplines to improve real-world aircraft performance, this is for you! ### What You'll Do: - Lead the RCCA Lifecycle: Own the end-to-end investigation process for fleet reliability issues, from initial intake and root-cause analysis through to implementation, validation, and permanent closure. - Drive Data-Driven Insights: Analyze complex flight logs, telemetry, manufacturing, and maintenance data to identify systemic reliability trends and recurring failure modes. - Collaborate Across Disciplines: Partner with Flight Test, Manufacturing, Software, and Engineering teams to reproduce anomalies, conduct hands-on investigations, and deploy corrective actions. - Communicate & Document Findings: Author technical reports and RCCA documentation suitable for engineering reviews, leadership, and regulatory needs, ensuring clear communication of engineering decisions. - Improve Fleet Health: Proactively contribute to reliability metrics, continuous improvement initiatives, and design feedback loops to ensure lessons learned improve future aircraft performance. ### What You'll Bring: - Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline. - 7+ years of engineering experience in aerospace, defense, autonomous systems, robotics, aviation, automotive, or other safety-critical industries. - Strong troubleshooting and systems-level problem-solving skills across hardware, software, and operational environments. - Experience applying investigation methodologies such as 8D, 5-Why, Fishbone, Fault Tree Analysis, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), or similar approaches. - Strong technical writing and communication skills with the ability to clearly communicate findings to engineers, leadership, customers, and external stakeholders. - Comfortable working hands-on with aircraft hardware, instrumentation, test equipment, and troubleshooting activities. - Proficiency with Python, SQL, or similar tools for data analysis and trend identification. ### Bonus Points: - Experience supporting unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), autonomous vehicles, or aviation platforms. - Familiarity with ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, DroneCAN, or comparable flight-control ecosystems. - Experience investigating avionics, GPS, navigation, communications, propulsion, power-system, battery, or flight-control issues. - Experience with reliability engineering practices such as FRACAS, MTBF analysis, reliability growth tracking, and fleet health monitoring.