Autonomy Engineer Intern

About the Role

Skydio is the leading US drone company and the world leader in autonomous flight. The core of our system relies on computer vision algorithms that enable drones to understand their surroundings. As an Intern, you will architect and implement algorithms as part of a world-class computer vision and deep learning team. You will be paired with core software development team members, taking ownership of a project that advances team and product capabilities. We are looking for individuals with a strong foundation in math, theory, and software development who are interested in contributing to the development of next-generation autonomy algorithms and their integration into real products.

Areas of Responsibility

• Core Simulator Architecture: Design, implement, and evolve the foundational architecture of the Skydio Simulator to scale across vehicle types, environments, and use cases.
• Physics and Dynamics: Improve and extend physics models governing vehicle motion, environmental interactions, and dynamic agents.
• Sensor and Hardware Simulation: Build high-fidelity simulations of cameras, IMUs, and other onboard components, including timing, noise characteristics, and hardware behavior.
• Autonomy Stack Integration: Run and validate the full Skydio autonomy stack in simulation, ensuring consistency between simulated and real-world behavior.
• Feature Development on Top of the Core: Implement simulator capabilities to unlock new workflows for customers and internal autonomy engineers, covering training scenarios and advanced testing modes.
• Performance and Fidelity: Profile, optimize, and improve simulator performance while continuously enhancing realism and accuracy.

What You’ll Do

• Develop core simulator components in C++ and Python, working under real-time constraints.
• Collaborate with autonomy, perception, and controls engineers to align simulation behavior with real-world systems.
• Debug complex interactions between physics, sensors, autonomy logic, and rendering.
• Help shape the long-term technical direction of the simulator as both a product and an internal platform.
• Contribute to documentation and shared understanding of internal simulator workings.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering experience with C++ and Python.
• Experience building complex systems where performance, determinism, or correctness are critical.
• Comfort reasoning about time-synchronized systems, state machines, or real-time execution.
• Ability to work within a large, evolving codebase with multiple stakeholders.
• Interest in robotics, simulation, or physical systems (prior robotics experience is a plus, not a requirement).

Bonus Experience

• Robotics, simulation, game engines, or real-time systems.
• Physics engines, sensor modeling, or hardware abstraction layers.
• Multithreaded or low-latency system design.
• Experience debugging systems that span software and physical behavior.