Autonomy Engineer Intern, Autonomy Infrastructure, Systems and Tools, 2027 (HQ)

Skydio•San Mateo, CA

2d•$70

About The Position

Skydio is a US drone company focused on autonomous flight. The Autonomy Engineer Intern will work with the autonomy infrastructure, systems, and tools team to build developer tools and systems that advance autonomy development and testing. The role involves direct ownership of a project and collaboration with members of the software development team and cross-functional partners. The intern will design and implement systems for replaying and analyzing recorded autonomy behavior, automated testing and failure triage, and coordination between autonomy software and robotics middleware. They will also develop reliable, performant, and usable developer infrastructure, take internal services from concept through deployment and monitoring, and contribute to the long-term roadmap for tools that improve debugging, test coverage, and understanding of autonomous systems.

Requirements

Proficiency in C++ and Python.
Strong grasp of performance-sensitive and multithreaded systems.
Experience with simulation frameworks, time-synchronized data systems, or state-machine-driven applications.
Familiarity with structured data visualization, log processing, or developer tooling design.
Strong communication skills and ability to partner effectively with cross-functional teams.
Comfort working in a fast-paced environment where requirements evolve and priorities shift.

Nice To Haves

Experience building performance-sensitive systems involving profiling, multithreading, or real-time constraints in robotics, aerospace, automotive, or similar domains.
Exposure to robotics, simulation, or physics engines.
Background in telemetry systems, log ingestion pipelines, or automated test environments.
Front-end development skills in modern web frameworks such as React, TypeScript, Three.js, or Plotly, focused on data interaction and visualization.
Familiarity with distributed systems or cloud-hosted services supporting internal tools and customer applications.

Responsibilities

Design and build replay and analysis systems for inspecting and reproducing recorded autonomy behavior, with control over system state, perception outputs, and decision-making.
Develop scalable infrastructure for automated testing and failure triage, including simulation and log-driven test coverage, log processing, and diagnostics.
Define APIs, data contracts, and performance requirements for messaging, state propagation, and coordination across autonomy software and robotics middleware.
Partner with downstream teams to support implementation and integration.
Design and implement reliable, performant, and usable developer infrastructure and tools.
Lead the design and implementation of scalable tools used across autonomy development and testing workflows.
Collaborate with autonomy, QA, and infrastructure teams to gather requirements, align priorities, and deliver tooling.
Build tools that streamline the robotics development process.
Take ownership of internal services from concept through deployment and monitoring.
Contribute to the long-term vision and roadmap for developer tools that improve debugging efficiency, test coverage, and system understanding.