QA Engineering Manager

🏢 Skyways · 📍 Austin, TX · 💼 onsite · ⏰ Full-time
⚡ Direct Talent Broker Referral
Why apply through CandidatesReach?
✔ Tailored Executive Endorsement Letter: Highlight your real strengths and verified background directly to hiring leads.
✔ Your Preferred Screening Terms: Choose between a 1-minute quick phone screen or scheduled email calendar.
✔ $500 Cash Hiring Bonus: Receive $500 direct cash reward after 30 days of active employment.

Position Summary & Responsibilities

Skyways designs, builds, and operates fully autonomous long-range cargo aircraft. Founded in 2017, the company has spent the last eight years developing and deploying autonomous logistics systems for real-world operations.

Our V2 aircraft carries 30 lbs up to 500 miles, and V3 has a maximum range of well over 1,000 miles, a maximum useful load of 100 lbs, and a maximum endurance of nearly 20 hours. Both use a hybrid-electric architecture that takes off like a helicopter and cruises like a plane, enabling long-range autonomous delivery without traditional runway infrastructure.

Today, Skyways aircraft operate across three continents in controlled national airspace under FAA oversight and in support of U.S. military operations. We are transitioning from prototype development to full-rate production and scaling toward large autonomous cargo fleets.

Backed by Y Combinator and a $37M AFWERX STRATFI award from the U.S. Air Force, Skyways is creating a new form of transportation to advance our civilization from Austin, Texas.

The Opportunity
 
The QA Engineering Manager will build Skyways’ quality foundation from the ground up. This is not a policy role. It is an opportunity to design and lead how quality is embedded into everything we design, build, and fly.
 
You will be the first person in this function, owning quality across the full lifecycle from receiving and development through production and delivery. You will create the systems and processes that make quality inseparable from how Skyways operates, ensuring every part, assembly, and aircraft meets the highest standards before it leaves the floor.
 
This role is for someone with an entrepreneurial spirit who thrives in new territory. You will jump into the unknown, build structure where there is none, and make quality a core advantage for Skyways as we scale.
🎯 Candidate Preparation Guide For Skyways Applicants

Key Role Competencies & Evaluation Highlights

Key Role Focus:

Evaluates aerospace safety standards, autonomous systems engineering, and the rigorous discipline required to scale unmanned aviation hardware and software.

📋 Preparation Priorities (Key Areas to Clarify):
  • 1. Dismissive attitude toward flight safety protocols, redundancy checks, or regulatory compliance.
  • 2. Lack of structured failure analysis methodology when hardware or software tests go wrong.
  • 3. Working in silos without coordinating closely between aerodynamic, avionics, and software teams.
✨ Recommended Role Alignment Hook:

I engineer reliable, safety-certified autonomous aviation systems that bridge cutting-edge robotics with strict aerospace compliance.

🔒 Free Candidate Preparation Access

Unlock Preparation Priorities & Alignment Hook

Sign in below to review role alignment recommendations before submitting your referral.

🤝 Talent Broker Referral · $500 Bonus Included

Apply for QA Engineering Manager

Setup your contact terms & referral note to get recommended directly to the hiring lead at Skyways.

⚡ Continue with Google (Instant Setup)
or with email

Already have an account? Sign in here