Lead Reliability Engineer

The role

The Lead Reliability Engineer owns the reliability of the V2 and V3 autonomous cargo aircraft fleets. This person leads root cause corrective action work, troubleshoots hard failures, and analyzes flight and maintenance data to find problems early.

What you will do

• Own every fleet reliability issue from intake through root cause, corrective action, validation, and permanent closure
• Form hypotheses, design tests, and let evidence decide the root cause
• Troubleshoot failures across avionics, propulsion, power, EMI, software, and flight controls, and build fixes when needed
• Analyze flight logs, telemetry, manufacturing, and maintenance data to spot systemic failure modes and trends
• Own reliability metrics and reliability growth across V2 and V3 and make them visible to the company
• Feed learnings into design, manufacturing, maintenance, and flight operations

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• 10+ years of engineering experience, including 5+ years of hands-on reliability engineering on UAV or aviation programs
• A clear record of measurably improving reliability on aircraft you worked on
• Strongly analytical mindset and evidence-driven approach to root cause
• Experience leading RCCA or similar root cause and corrective action work on aircraft
• Hands-on troubleshooting across software, electrical, mechanical, and controls
• Deep command of FMEA, fault tree analysis, 8D, and Weibull analysis
• Proficiency with Python or similar tools for data analysis
• Clear, direct communication across engineering, technicians, flight crews, and leadership
• Limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or candidates from specific countries authorized under applicable export control regulations

Nice to have

• 15+ years of engineering experience
• Experience with EMI and EMC investigation and mitigation
• Experience with ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, DroneCAN, or comparable flight control ecosystems
• Experience with hybrid electric propulsion, engines, batteries, or power systems

Benefits

• Stock options
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Paid time off
• Paid holidays
• 401k
• Life insurance
• Relocation assistance for candidates moving to Austin

Before you apply

• Limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or candidates from specific countries authorized under applicable export control regulations, due to U.S. government contract requirements

About the company

Skyways designs, builds, and operates fully autonomous long-range cargo aircraft, founded in 2017 and based in Austin, Texas. Its aircraft fly revenue missions for commercial customers across three continents, and the company is backed by Y Combinator and a $37M AFWERX STRATFI award from the U.S. Air Force.