How It Works for Drone Pilots
SkyyTask connects you with real jobs, real clients, and a fair shot at getting hired — no matter where you’re located. Here’s how it works for drone pilots, step by step.
Step 1: Find Available Jobs
You don’t have to go looking for work — SkyyTask brings jobs to you. When a client posts a job within your radius, you’ll receive a real-time push notification straight to your phone. That’s why it’s important to have push notifications enabled — job alerts and one-to-one client chats both come through in real time.
Jobs reach you in one of two ways:
Open Bid
The job is open to every certified pilot within the client’s chosen radius. Any pilot in that area can view the job and submit a bid.
Direct Bid (Pilot Optimization)
This is how it works for drone pilots on Direct Bid: Some job alerts are sent only to a select group of pilots — chosen by the client based on radius and specialization. If you’re selected for a Direct Bid job, your bid stays private and is only visible to the client who chose you, not to other pilots. It is important to know, you will only be shown to clients in Direct Bid, if you have a completed profile, bio, portfolio, equipment section and so on. If you do not have a complete profile, you are not shown to clients using Direct Bid.
Why Your Profile Completion Matters
SkyyTask’s matching system uses your full profile — bio, equipment and drone details, specialization, and portfolio — to determine which pilots a client will see and which pilots get selected for Direct Bid jobs. This isn’t optional information; it’s what our algorithm and clients use to find and recommend you.
If your profile is incomplete, you are effectively invisible for Direct Bid opportunities and you will be missing job opportunities for not having your profile complete. You won’t see an error or notification — the job simply won’t reach you, because our system can not job match you with clients if you do not give our system enough information to work with. Leaving this section blank will result in poor results and make the pilot appear un-professional if they don’t take the time to showcase who they are and what they can do.
It also matters for Open Bid. Clients are choosing who to hire based on what they can see. If your profile picture, bio, and portfolio aren’t there, a client has no way to know who you are or whether you can handle the job. Your chances of being chosen — whether selected for Direct Bid or picked out of an Open Bid pool — are extremely low without that information. Clients DO NOT hire blank profiles.
Before contacting support about job visibility, check that your profile is 100% complete: bio, drone/equipment details, specialization category, and portfolio images and video links. Incomplete profiles are the most common reason pilots don’t see jobs or don’t get chosen.
How to Set Up Your Profile and Portfolio
- Tap the account icon in the app
- Tap your profile picture or your name where it says “Welcome, [Your Name]” — this opens your personal details
- Update your bio, machine details, and drone details
- Tap “Profile Images and Videos” — this is where you upload your portfolio images and add YouTube links to showcase your quality drone footage for potential clients.
Step 2: Talk to the Client Before You Bid
Before throwing out a price, use the built-in one-to-one chat — a free, real-time messaging tool right in the app. Introduce yourself, ask questions about the job, and be transparent about your pricing and how you can help.
This matters more than most pilots realize. Pilots who communicate clearly and introduce themselves are consistently the ones who win jobs — not the ones who submit a price and go silent. Clients want to know who they’re hiring, not just what it costs.
Step 3: Submit Your Bid
Once you’ve reviewed the job details and connected with the client, submit your bid. If the client selects you, the job is locked in and scheduled.
Step 4: Show Up and Start the Job
On the day of the job, head to the location and tap Start Job in the app. This notifies the client that you’ve arrived and are getting to work.
Step 5: Deliver Your Work
Once you’ve completed the job, upload your deliverables through SkyyTask’s secure portal via a Google Drive link. You can either choose your own 4-digit passcode or let the system generate one for you. That passcode is automatically shared with the client so they can access their files.
Step 6: Mark the Job Finished
Once the client has retrieved their deliverables, tap Finished. This starts the payment process for your completed work.
Why It Works This Way
SkyyTask is built to protect pilots from a race to the bottom. Direct Bid keeps your pricing private from competing pilots, and the emphasis on chat-first communication means the pilots who show up as real professionals — not just the lowest price — are the ones who win the job. Professional communication is key. SkyyTask gives you free access to talk with the client – its there to help you – use it. Direct Bid (Pilot Optimization) is in place to help merit professional drone pilots who are chosen to participate in the bid based on their profile, bio, equipment and so on. That’s how it works, and it’s designed to reward professionalism over price.
What’s Next — How It Works Keeps Getting Better
SkyyTask is evolving. Right now, jobs move through open bid or direct bid, giving you a fair shot at every project. But change is coming.
A new automated booking experience is currently in development — one designed to remove bidding from the process entirely. Instead of competing on price, pilots will be matched to jobs automatically, with payouts protected no matter what. This next chapter is being built to make an already fair system even better — for pilots and clients alike.
Want a preview of what’s coming? Check out what’s on the way.
