System Engineering Intern

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

This internship offers hands-on exposure to real systems engineering work on an autonomous aircraft program moving toward production. You’ll own scoped, project-based work focused on reliability, testing, and scalability, with direct mentorship from experienced engineers. Your contributions will ship internally and influence how Skyways tests, documents, and scales its aircraft.

• Own and execute project-based systems engineering work with clear deliverables and timelines
• Support ground testing efforts, including HIL and subscale integration testing
• Design and build robust, repeatable test cases and test harnesses
• Contribute to systems and test documentation used across engineering and manufacturing
• Analyze subsystem behavior and support root cause and fault tree analysis
• Collaborate cross-functionally with systems, electrical, software, and manufacturing teams
• Communicate data-driven findings clearly and concisely to technical stakeholders

• Pursuing a B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical or Systems Engineering
• Strong engineering fundamentals and comfort working across hardware and software boundaries
• Experience with test setups, lab environments, or hands-on engineering projects
• Ability to break down ambiguous problems into structured, testable work
• Clear written and verbal communication skills
• Curiosity, ownership, and a bias toward building things that actually work

• Experience with HIL, SIL, or integration testing
• Familiarity with avionics, embedded systems, or hardware-in-the-loop test rigs
• Exposure to fault tree analysis, RCCA, or reliability engineering
• Comfort scripting or building small tools to support testing or analysisInterest in aviation, autonomy, or safety-critical systems

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.