Senior Wireless Software Engineer, National Security

Skydio•San Mateo, CA

5d•$170,000 - $240,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The National Security team specializes in tailoring Skydio’s technology platform to meet the needs of Defense users domestically and abroad. Reliable, high-performance radio links are foundational to mission success: command and control, mesh/relay coordination, and resilient, high-quality video in congested and contested RF environments. As a Senior Wireless Software Engineer on the National Security team, you will design, implement, and optimize radio-link software and system-level algorithms for mission-critical drone communications using industrial/defense-grade RF data links (e.g., Microhard pMDDL-class radios). You’ll work close to hardware and embedded systems - integrating radios over Ethernet/serial interfaces, tuning link performance, building monitoring/management tools, and driving test and evaluation across complex real-world scenarios.

Requirements

Strong experience with RF data links and/or industrial radio modems (e.g., Microhard pMDDL-class, MANET radios, COFDM/microwave links, or similar).
Solid understanding of wireless link fundamentals and performance drivers (link budgets, fading, interference, antenna considerations, mobility effects, multipath).
Experience configuring/tuning radios: channelization, bandwidth, TX power, modulation/coding (MCS), FEC/ARQ, and QoS/traffic prioritization.
Strong embedded/software background in C/C++ (and comfort with Python for automation and analysis).
Experience with embedded Linux networking: routing/bridging, VLANs, multicast/unicast behavior, traffic shaping (tc/qdisc), UDP/TCP tradeoffs, and video transport considerations.
Familiarity with radio management interfaces (CLI, serial, SNMP, web UI/REST, vendor APIs) and building robust configuration/monitoring layers.
Hands-on debugging with lab + field tools: spectrum analyzer (or RF scanning tools), packet capture (tcpdump/Wireshark), iperf, latency/jitter measurement, and log/telemetry correlation.
Strong software engineering fundamentals: clean architecture, maintainable code, performance-minded design, and disciplined testing.
Proven ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams including RF, hardware, and systems.
Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.
Ability and willingness to travel up to 20%.

Nice To Haves

Experience integrating radios into airborne platforms with constraints around SWaP, thermal, EMI/EMC, and antenna placement.
Experience with contested-spectrum tactics: interference detection/avoidance, channel planning, and operational profiles.
Experience building automated test infrastructure (hardware-in-the-loop, chamber/anechoic/OTA setups, regression suites, result dashboards).
Familiarity with MIL/DoD interoperability considerations (COMSEC/TRANSEC integration patterns, key loading workflows, or policy-driven configuration—where applicable).
Experience developing or supporting Ground Control Station software and user-facing tooling for link status/health visualization.

Responsibilities

Own radio-link performance end-to-end: improve range, throughput, latency, robustness, and reliability for command/control and video transport over RF data links.
Integrate and control radios at the system layer: implement software interfaces to configure and manage radios (e.g., via CLI/AT-style commands, SNMP, REST, or vendor SDKs), including link profiles, channel plans, bandwidth, power, and QoS settings.
Build adaptive link behaviors: develop algorithms and policy logic for rate control, channel selection, retransmission/FEC strategy integration, prioritization, and application-aware QoS under interference and mobility.
Enable multi-node topologies: support relay/mesh-like operations, multi-aircraft coordination, and GCS interoperability where applicable (including bridging, routing, and traffic shaping).
Drive conducted + OTA testing: define KPIs, build test plans, and enhance automated regression for radio performance in congested/contested environments.
Develop tooling for observability: create telemetry pipelines, dashboards, and analysis scripts to interpret radio stats (RSSI/SNR, MCS/rate, PER/FER, retries, latency/jitter, link uptime).
Debug close to hardware: diagnose issues across RF/antenna integration, embedded Linux networking, drivers, and application behavior using packet captures, protocol traces, and lab equipment.
Collaborate across disciplines: partner with RF, hardware, systems, autonomy, mobile, and flight test to align requirements and deliver field-ready improvements.
Support mission-focused delivery: incorporate operational feedback from defense users and rapidly iterate on robustness and usability.