Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering – National Security (Defense)

Skydio is the leading US drone company and the world leader in autonomous flight, the key technology for the future of drones and aerial mobility. The Skydio team combines deep expertise in artificial intelligence, best-in-class hardware and software product development, operational excellence, and customer obsession to empower a broader, more diverse audience of drone users, from utility inspectors to first responders , soldiers in battlefield scenarios , and beyond .

Skydio is seeking an experienced Solutions Engineering leader to join our team as Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering for National Security, Defense. This role leads the team supporting the Department of War, United States Special Operations Command, and the Intelligence Community, with the work centred on upstream requirements development, evaluations and field trials, system integration, and unit-level enablement across Skydio's end-to-end UAS solutions. This is a remote role. Travel of approximately 50%, including regular international travel, is required to support customer engagements, field activities, deployments, and company events. This role reports to the Director, Solutions Engineering – National Security.

The National Security Solutions Engineering team is the technical arm of Skydio's defense go-to-market motion. We sit between the customer and the product: translating mission problems into requirements, proving capability in the field, and making sure Skydio's products are accredited, integrated, and flown at scale, including in contested environments where the network, the spectrum, and the GPS signal are all in question. The team is measured on technical win rate, evaluation and field trial outcomes, program expansion, and the quality of the requirements we push back into the product organization. Solutions Engineers are critical members of the Skydio organization and work closely with Account Executives, Engineering, and Product 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, with clear ownership and coverage across the agencies and components in your segment, and develop people beyond the seat they are in. Set the bar for technical quality — demos, trial plans, integration designs, RFI and RFP responses, and customer-facing documentation that hold up in front of operators, engineers, and program leadership. Own capacity across your segment. Decide where Solutions Engineering time goes, say no when it needs to be said, and make the tradeoffs visible to leadership. Set a sustainable operating rhythm for a team that travels hard. Manage deployment tempo deliberately so field presence does not come at the cost of retention. Drive technical wins Own the technical strategy for pursuits across your accounts: evaluation and down-select strategy, proof of concept and field trial design, and the technical narrative that differentiates Skydio. Serve as the senior technical escalation point on critical pursuits, deployments, and customer issues. Jump in and work the problem yourself, and be in the field when it matters. Partner with Sales leadership on pipeline, forecast, and account planning, and on the land-and-expand motion that turns a pilot program into a program of record. Own the defense problem set Shape requirements upstream. Get your team in front of program offices, capability development staffs, and operators early so solicitations reflect capability we actually have. Build the muscle to compete in exercises and operational assessments. Service and SOF selection decisions are frequently made in the field, under observation. Plan for that as the primary proving ground, not a follow-on step. Build and maintain team fluency in the accreditation path — ATO, impact levels for cloud hosting, NIPR and SIPR employment, cross-domain considerations —