Manager, Solutions Engineering - Utilities

US CA San Mateo · USD 210,000-275,000 / year · Full-time · Remote · Posted Oct 5, 2026

At a glance

Skydio is seeking an experienced Solutions Engineering leader to build and run the Utilities Solutions Engineering team.
The team is the technical authority behind every utility engagement, running technical discovery, designing solutions, executing dock trials, and carrying customers through deployment and expansion.

Hire, develop, and retain a team of Utilities Solutions Engineers; own ramp, enablement, and career progression for the team.
Set the standard for technical discovery and solution design across T&D inspection, substation inspection, storm and outage restoration, vegetation management, hydro and dam inspection, and water and wastewater assets.
Own team productivity, engagement, and growth, managing capacity across the segment and making tradeoffs visible to Sales leadership.
Own technical win rate for the utilities vertical and partner with Utilities sales leadership on quota attainment and pipeline health.
Govern the paid dock trial and rental motion for utility customers—scoping, success criteria, execution, and conversion to closed-won.
Serve as the senior technical escalation point on critical pursuits, deployments, and customer issues.
Represent Skydio at utility industry events, customer summits, and executive briefings.
Maintain team fluency in utility inspection payloads and data workflows, including thermography, LiDAR acquisition and processing, photogrammetry, and survey-grade accuracy requirements.
Guide integration strategy with systems customers already run, such as ESRI and GIS, DroneDeploy, REST-based APIs, and customer data lake patterns.
Direct the team’s product feedback into the Inspection and Mapping and Cloud product teams to ensure PRDs and gap submissions are specific, prioritized, and tied to revenue.

FAA Part 107 Certificate, or the ability to obtain one within 60 days of hire.
Ability to travel up to 50% to support customer engagements, team field activities, and company events.
Ability to lift up to 60 lbs unaided.
Prior experience as a Solutions Engineer, Solutions Architect, or equivalent technical pre-sales role serving electric or water utilities.
Working knowledge of utility inspection payloads and data workflows: thermography, LiDAR acquisition and processing, photogrammetry, and survey-grade accuracy requirements.
Familiarity with GIS and enterprise integrations—ESRI, DroneDeploy, REST-based APIs, and customer data lake patterns.
Understanding of the regulatory and procurement environment for regulated utilities, including PUC approval cycles, capital planning, and BVLOS waiver pathways.
Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to move between a lineman, a GIS analyst, and a VP of Operations in the same day.
Demonstrated people leadership: hiring, coaching, performance management, and building team process from a blank page.

Prior utility UAS program ownership on the customer side.
Experience with condition-based maintenance programs and asset health analytics.
Experience with dock-based, remote, and BVLOS operations at scale.
Familiarity with NERC, FERC, or state PUC reporting obligations.
Working knowledge of Salesforce, Jira, Databricks, or equivalents.
Track record of building and scaling a technical team through a period of rapid growth.

Travel of up to 50% is required to support customer engagements, team field activities, trials, and company events.