Senior Flight Controls Engineer

At Skyways, we are building the future of air transportation with fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Backed by significant funding, including a $37M STRATFI contract from the U.S. Air Force, we operate at the intersection of commercial and defense markets. We have designed, built, and flown aircraft with real customers and government partners, and are now entering the next phase of the company: scaling toward production.

Based in Austin, TX and supported by top investors including Y Combinator, Skyways blends rapid iteration with real world deployment. We design, test, and operate our systems in the field, then bring those learnings directly back into engineering and product decisions. As we grow, we are looking for builders and leaders who want real ownership, technical depth, and the opportunity to help take an aircraft from successful deployments to full production.

The Opportunity

At Skyways, Flight Controls Engineers sit at the center of whether our aircraft flies the way it should — safely, reliably, and repeatedly. This role owns the design, implementation, and validation of the control systems that keep our autonomous aircraft stable across real-world operations. You’ll see your work go from simulation to hardware to flight test quickly, and you’ll be expected to close the loop all the way.

If you like tuning controllers, digging through logs after a flight, and watching your changes take off the next week, you’ll fit right in.

What You'll Do::
• Design, implement, and tune flight control algorithms for autonomous fixed‑wing and VTOL aircraft.
• Own control laws end to end, including requirements definition, simulation, flight code, and validation.
• Develop and maintain control system models in simulation environments to support analysis and testing.
• Analyze flight test data and logs to diagnose issues and improve performance.
• Collaborate closely with avionics, autonomy, mechanical, and flight test teams to integrate and validate control systems.
• Support ground and flight testing, including on‑site test campaigns when needed.
• Continuously improve robustness, fault tolerance, and performance across a growing operational envelope.

What You'll Bring::
• Strong fundamentals in control theory, dynamics, and state estimation.
• Experience implementing flight or vehicle control systems in production code.
• Comfort working in C++ and Python in embedded or real‑time systems.
• Hands‑on experience with simulation, controller tuning, and flight or field testing.
• Ability to reason from first principles and debug complex, cross‑disciplinary problems.
• Comfort operating in an early‑stage environment with incomplete requirements and fast iteration cycles.

Bonus Points::
• Experience with UAVs, aerospace systems, or autonomous vehicles.
• Familiarity with PX4, ArduPilot, or similar flight control stacks.
• Experience with hardware‑in‑the‑loop or software‑in‑the‑loop testing.
• Background in fixed‑wing, VTOL, or hybrid aircraft control systems.

Due to U.S. government contract requirements, this role is limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or candidates from specific countries authorized under applicable export control regulations.

Want to join our mission? Apply to learn more!

Due to U.S. government contract requirements, this role is limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or candidates from specific countries authorized under applicable export control regulations.

Skyways is an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other factor protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.