Staff Reliability Engineer

Skyways•Austin, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Skyways is hiring a Staff Reliability Engineer to build and drive the reliability program across its V2 fleet, which flies commercial revenue missions, and its V3 aircraft, which is in active flight test. The position is onsite in Austin, Texas. The engineer will establish the company’s reliability strategy and lead hands-on work in the hangar, flight logs, and on the bench, identifying root causes and developing fixes. The work spans software, electrical, mechanical, and controls systems, and involves driving corrective actions to closure with Flight Test, Systems Engineering, Manufacturing, and Flight Operations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering, or a related engineering field.
10+ years of engineering experience, including 5+ years of hands-on reliability work on UAV or aviation programs.
Clear, measurable evidence of improving reliability on a UAV or aviation program, such as lower failure rates, higher MTBF, or better fleet availability.
Experience building or driving a reliability program, including failure reporting and corrective action systems (FRACAS).
Broad, hands-on troubleshooting across software, electrical, mechanical, and controls, with a track record of finding root cause and implementing the fix.
Working knowledge of reliability methods such as FMEA, fault tree analysis, 8D, Weibull analysis, and reliability growth tracking.
Proficiency with Python, SQL, or similar tools for flight data analysis.
Clear technical writing and communication with engineers and leadership.
Must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or a candidate from a country authorized under applicable export control regulations.

Nice To Haves

15+ years of engineering experience with reliability at the core of your career.
Experience with ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, DroneCAN, or comparable flight control ecosystems.
Experience with hybrid electric propulsion, battery, or engine reliability.
Experience setting maintenance intervals and life limits for a flying fleet.
Experience working in startup or rapid hardware development environments.

Responsibilities

Build and own Skyways’ reliability program, including failure reporting, root cause analysis, corrective action, and fleet reliability metrics.
Lead hands-on investigations into aircraft failures across avionics, flight software, power and propulsion, structures, and flight controls.
Troubleshoot problems and develop fixes, partnering with design engineers when changes affect their systems.
Analyze flight logs, telemetry, maintenance, and manufacturing data to identify recurring failure modes and rank them by fleet impact.
Run FMEA and fault tree analysis on V3 critical systems and turn findings into design changes.
Set inspection intervals and life limits, revising them as fleet hours accumulate.
Drive corrective actions through design, manufacturing, and flight operations to permanent closure.
Report fleet reliability trends to engineering and company leadership.