Senior Supplier Quality Engineer - Camera

Skills this role screens for

About the role

Skydio is the leading US drone company and the world leader in autonomous flight, the key technology for the future of drones and aerial mobility. The Skydio team combines deep expertise in artificial intelligence, best-in-class hardware and software product development, operational excellence, and customer obsession to empower a broader, more diverse audience of drone users, from utility inspectors https://www.skydio.com/solutions/energy-and-utilities to first responders https://www.skydio.com/solutions/public-safety, soldiers in battlefield scenarios https://www.skydio.com/solutions/national-security/tactical-isr, and beyond https://www.skydio.com/solutions.

The work

About the Role

Insightfully designed manufacturing processes and fully qualified supplier relationships are critical elements in bringing tightly integrated, sophisticated electromechanical systems to major markets. Skydio's autonomy depends on what our aircraft can see: navigation cameras, payload sensors, and the optics in front of them are among the most tolerance-sensitive, highest-risk components we build.

As the Camera & Optics member of Skydio's Supplier Quality Engineering team, you'll own quality across the camera supply base: lenses, coatings, actuators, image sensors, ME parts and fully assembled modules. You'll work with our Product Design, Image Quality, Manufacturing, Manufacturing Design, Supply Chain, Reliability, and Quality teams and interface with current and potential suppliers to strengthen Skydio's optical supplier base to meet our increasing production volume and quality needs.

Also

How You’ll Make an Impact

• Conduct supplier assessments and on-site audits to evaluate camera module, lens, and coating suppliers' quality systems, cleanliness and particle controls, process capability, metrology capability, and overall production readiness.
• Partner with Optical, Electrical, Mechanical, Image Quality, and Manufacturing Engineers throughout the Hardware Product Development Process to ensure robust quality planning, manufacturability, testability, and supplier readiness for new product introductions and volume production.
• Influence camera and lens designs early through DFM/DFA reviews, opto-mechanical and statistical tolerance analysis, and design risk assessment — trading off image performance, yield, scalability, and cost before tooling is committed.
• Drive supplier qualification activities including process audits, First Article Inspections (FAI), Production Validation Builds (PVT), and manufacturing readiness reviews to ensure compliance with Skydio's optical, mechanical, reliability, and quality requirements.
• Lead supplier quality planning through prototype, pre-production, and mass production, including control plans, PFMEAs, process validations, calibration strategy, and outgoing quality strategies that minimize incoming inspection and maximize field reliability.
• Own optical end-of-line test strategy at the supplier — MTF/SFR, distortion, field curvature and tilt, relative illumination, stray light, flare and ghosting, color and luminance shading, defective pixels, particle and cosmetic criteria — including limit-sample governance, chart and light-source control, and correlation between supplier, Skydio, and field measurements.
• Drive supplier quality and manufacturing readiness for thermal imaging modules, including thermal sensor, infrared optics, opto-mechanical assembly, calibration, and module-level integration. Assess and control critical thermal-camera processes such as NUC calibration, gain/dynamic-range calibration, bad-pixel correction, thermal stabilization, and blackbody-based performance verification across operating temperature ranges.
• Manage supplier corrective action requests (SCARs), 8D investigations, containment actions, and root cause analysis to rapidly resolve quality issues and drive systemic improvements across lines and across suppliers.
• Develop and maintain supplier scorecards and KPIs f