The IT Manager, Manufacturing owns every piece of technology that keeps Skydio’s drone production lines running. You are the single IT leader for the factory: you set the manufacturing IT strategy directly with local factory leadership, then build the team, infrastructure and operating model that deliver it.
This is a build-and-take-over role. Factory IT is supported today as an extension of corporate IT; you will take ownership of it, establish it as a dedicated function, and run it to production standards, where downtime is measured in units not shipped. You will be as comfortable walking the line with a production supervisor at shift change as presenting a three-year roadmap to operations executives.
The ideal candidate has run IT inside a high-volume, high-mix hardware factory, understands where IT meets operational technology (OT), and still enjoys getting hands-on when a line is down.
This is an office-based position that requires 5 days/week onsite at Skydio’s manufacturing facility in Hayward, CA, with occasional travel to Skydio HQ in San Mateo, CA. The factory runs multiple shifts; you will set up coverage and an on-call rotation for your team and be the escalation point for production-impacting incidents.
Strategy and factory partnership
Own the manufacturing IT strategy and multi-year roadmap, built jointly with factory leadership and aligned to production ramp, new product introduction (NPI) and capacity plans
Act as the single accountable IT partner for the plant: sit in factory staff and production meetings, translate operational priorities into technology decisions, and report on uptime, risk and delivery
Take over factory IT services from corporate IT with a clear transition plan, defined ownership boundaries and no disruption to production
Build and manage the factory IT budget, vendor relationships, hardware lifecycle and spares strategy
Production systems and shop floor
Keep the lines running: own availability targets and incident response for all IT systems that production depends on
Run the infrastructure behind the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), test stations, flashing and calibration fixtures, label printing, scanners and line-side workstations, in partnership with Manufacturing Software, Test and Manufacturing Engineering
Qualification
Experience in consumer electronics
Preferred
Experience in consumer electronics, robotics, aerospace, automotive or electric vehicle manufacturing
Experience in an export-controlled or defense-adjacent environment (ITAR/EAR, NIST SP 800-171, CMMC)
Familiarity with industrial protocols and controls (PLCs, SCADA, OPC UA, Ignition, Kepware)
Experience standing up IT for a second factory or a contract manufacturer site
ITIL or equivalent service management background; industry certifications such as CCNA, Linux+, PMP or CISSP
Obtaining FAA Part 107 certification within the first 60 days of employment is strongly encouraged for all Skydio employees and required for certain positions
