Autonomy Engineer Intern, Autonomy Infrastructure, Systems and Tools, 2027 (Zurich)

Overview

Skydio offers an internship position titled Autonomy Engineer Intern, Autonomy Infrastructure, Systems and Tools, for the year 2027. The work is located in Zurich, Switzerland, and involves joining a team focused on autonomous flight and drone technology. Interns are paired with core software development team members and assume direct ownership of a project that contributes to the team and products. Visa sponsorship may be offered for suitable candidates.

Who can apply

Candidates must possess a strong foundation in math, theory, and software development, along with proficiency in C and Python, including a solid grasp of performance-sensitive and multi-threaded systems. Applicants should have experience with simulation frameworks, time-synchronized data systems, or state-machine-driven applications, as well as familiarity with structured data visualization, log processing, or developer tooling design. Strong communication skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment with evolving requirements are required. Additional bonus experience includes building performance-sensitive systems in robotics, aerospace, automotive, or similar domains, exposure to robotics or simulation engines, background in telemetry systems or automated test environments, front-end development skills in modern web frameworks, and familiarity with distributed systems or cloud-hosted services.

What you get

The hourly compensation rate for this position is 47 USD per hour for undergraduate students, 53 USD per hour for master's students, and 70 USD per hour for PhD students. Actual compensation may vary based on skill level, proficiencies, transferable knowledge, and experience.

Requirements

The role requires designing and building replay and analysis systems to inspect and reproduce recorded autonomy behavior with fine-grained control over system state and perception outputs. Interns must develop scalable infrastructure for automated testing and failure triage, operate at the interface between autonomy software and core robotics middleware to define APIs and data contracts, and design developer infrastructure and tools prioritizing reliability, performance, and usability. Responsibilities also include leading the design of scalable tools, collaborating across teams to gather requirements, taking ownership of internal services from concept through deployment, and contributing to the roadmap for developer tools.