Autonomy Engineer Intern - Systems and Tools (Zurich)

About the role

Skydio, a drone company focused on autonomous flight, is looking for an Autonomy Engineer Intern in Zurich for 2027. As a research intern you will work alongside core software developers and own a project that advances the autonomy algorithms running on every Skydio drone. The role sits at the interface of autonomy software and robotics middleware, designing tools for testing, debugging and developer productivity.

Key responsibilities

• Design and build replay and analysis systems so engineers can inspect and reproduce recorded autonomy behavior with fine-grained control over state, perception and decisions.
• Develop infrastructure for automated testing and failure triage, expanding simulation and log-driven test coverage and speeding up root-cause analysis.
• Define APIs, data contracts and performance requirements for messaging, state propagation and coordination between autonomy software and robotics middleware, and support downstream teams.
• Build developer tools and internal services from concept through deployment and monitoring, improving debugging efficiency, test coverage and system understanding.

Required profile

• Strong foundation in math, theory and software development.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced environment where requirements and priorities change.
• Strong communication skills and ability to partner with cross-functional teams.

Required skills

• C++ and Python, with a grasp of performance-sensitive and multi-threaded systems.
• Experience with simulation frameworks, time-synchronized data systems or state-machine-driven applications.
• Familiarity with structured data visualization, log processing or developer tooling design.
• Bonus: robotics, aerospace or automotive performance systems; telemetry, log pipelines or automated tests; front-end frameworks such as React, TypeScript or Three.js; distributed systems or cloud-hosted internal tools.

What we offer

• Hourly rate of $47 for undergraduates, $53 for masters and $70 for PhD students, depending on skill level and experience.
• Full-time employees can join benefit plans and access incentives and stipends.