Chief Technology Officer

Job Description

Job Description

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, while our next-generation V3 carries 100 lbs over 1,000+ miles with 20+ hours of endurance. 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

We’re hiring a CTO to take what already works and make it scale.

Right now, the system flies. The team is strong. The pieces exist.

What’s missing is tight ownership across the full stack to turn this into a production system that is reliable, repeatable, and fast to iterate on.

This role owns that.

You will run engineering across autonomy, software, hardware, and systems integration. You will work directly with flight ops and manufacturing. You will decide where we invest, what we cut, and how we move faster without breaking things that matter.

This is not a role where you inherit a clean system. It’s a role where you shape it.

• Own engineering execution across the full system

• Turn a working aircraft into a production-ready, repeatable platform

• Scale the team without turning it into a slow, process-heavy organization

• Make fast, high-quality decisions that unblock the team

• Work closely with flight ops and manufacturing so what we build actually works in the field

• Be the technical counterpart to the CEO in customer and investor conversations

• You’ve built and shipped real systems, not just led teams that talk about them

• You’ve taken something from prototype to production and dealt with the mess that comes with it

• You can operate across disciplines and connect the system end-to-end

• You know how to increase speed without losing reliability

• You’re comfortable owning outcomes, not just direction

• You’ve worked on aircraft, UAVs, or other safety-critical systems that operate in the real world

• You’ve dealt with certification, regulatory constraints, or government customers

• You’ve built systems that combine hardware, software, and autonomy into one integrated product

• You’ve scaled a team from early stage to production without losing speed

• You’ve seen what breaks when you go from “it works once” to “it works every time”

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.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.