Test Equipment Design Engineer

🏢 Summary: Engineering role focused on developing and operating validation systems and automated test infrastructure for battery and power electronics hardware used in autonomous delivery aircraft. Responsibilities include designing test equipment, executing environmental and reliability testing, analyzing failures, and improving laboratory automation and validation processes across multiple hardware programs. 🗂️ Requirements: Experience developing validation systems or engineering test infrastructure for electromechanical products, Experience designing and building custom test equipment and automated validation systems, Mechanical design experience with CAD software, Knowledge of measurement systems, sensors, DAQ hardware, instrumentation, and electrical power systems, Experience with environmental, vibration, thermal, fatigue, reliability, or safety testing, Ability to analyze data, identify failure modes, and provide engineering recommendations, Experience developing automated test software, Strong written and verbal technical communication skills 📃 Skills: Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, TestStand, NX, SolidWorks, CAD, DAQ, Instrumentation, Automation, Sensors, Electrical, Mechanical, Validation, Testing 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role Zipline builds autonomous delivery aircraft and ground systems that operate daily in varying field conditions. You will develop the validation systems and test infrastructure that ensure battery and power electronics hardware is safe, reliable, manufacturable, and ready for deployment. The Battery & Power Electronics team is responsible for delivering power throughout the aircraft—including batteries, power distribution systems, busbars, and power connectors. In this role, you'll design, build, automate, and operate the systems that validate these products throughout development, qualification, manufacturing, and field support. This role is open to engineers at all levels. Scope and ownership grow with experience—from developing individual fixtures and executing validation tests to leading validation strategy, architecting complex test systems, and defining engineering standards across multiple programs. What You'll Do Own end-to-end delivery of validation systems from requirements → design → build → automation → execution → analysis → release → production support. Typical Responsibilities - Design and build mechanical, electrical, and software-integrated test equipment for battery cells, battery packs, power electronics, busbars, and power distribution hardware. - Develop validation strategies covering functional, environmental, vibration, thermal, abuse, reliability, and durability testing for safety-critical power systems. - Design custom fixtures, instrumentation, wiring harnesses, power distribution systems, and data acquisition hardware capable of repeatable, high-throughput testing. - Develop automated test sequences, data collection, and analysis workflows that improve test repeatability, reduce operator effort, and accelerate engineering feedback. - Plan and execute battery characterization, DV&P/R, vibration, thermal cycling, shock, crash, fire mitigation, fatigue, ingress protection, and electrical validation campaigns. - Own test readiness reviews, equipment qualification, calibration strategy, operating procedures, and laboratory safety documentation. - Analyze failures using instrumentation, teardown inspections, root cause analysis, and statistical methods, partnering with design engineers to implement corrective actions. - Partner daily with Systems, Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Reliability, Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, Integration & Test, and Field Operations to translate engineering questions into efficient, data-driven validation plans. - Develop scalable test infrastructure supporting engineering development, manufacturing validation, supplier qualification, and fleet investigations. - Support supplier qualification, acceptance testing, and failure investigations for externally manufactured hardware. - Contribute to engineering standards, laboratory best practices, and continuous improvement initiatives. As scope increases, lead technical reviews, mentor teammates, and define validation strategy across multiple programs. Engineer II - Independently owns validation equipment and test campaigns for individual subsystems. - Designs custom fixtures, automation, and data acquisition systems. - Troubleshoots complex test issues and partners with cross-functional teams to resolve failures. Senior Engineer - Leads development of complex validation systems supporting major hardware programs. - Defines validation approaches, mentors engineers, and improves laboratory capabilities. - Drives automation, test infrastructure improvements, and cross-functional technical decisions. Staff Engineer (Lead Engineer) - Defines validation strategy across multiple programs. - Establishes engineering standards for test equipment, automation, instrumentation, and laboratory operations. - Leads major cross-functional initiatives that improve engineering quality, development velocity, and organizational capability. - Serves as the technical authority for large-scale validation systems and laboratory infrastructure. What You'll Bring - Experience developing validation systems, production test equipment, or engineering test infrastructure for complex electromechanical products appropriate to your career level. - Experience designing and building custom test equipment, fixtures, instrumentation, or automated validation systems. - Strong mechanical design skills using NX, SolidWorks, or equivalent CAD software for developing robust laboratory equipment and fixtures. - Strong understanding of measurement systems, sensors, DAQ hardware, instrumentation, electrical power systems, and laboratory best practices. - Experience planning and executing environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, abuse, reliability, or safety testing. - Ability to design experiments, analyze data, identify failure modes, and communicate actionable engineering recommendations. - Experience developing automated test software using Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, NI Test Stand, or similar platforms is preferred. - Demonstrated ability to improve test throughput, repeatability, automation, or laboratory efficiency. - Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly communicate technical findings and recommendations. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

🏢 Summary: Senior Integration & Test Software Engineer role focused on building and owning software-driven SIL, HIL, and EOLT test systems for autonomous delivery drones. The position involves developing automation, integrating embedded hardware and software, supporting production operations, and improving fleet reliability at scale. The role requires strong cross-functional collaboration, production support, and hands-on work with embedded systems and factory test infrastructure. 🗂️ Requirements: 5+ years building integration and test software interfacing with hardware, Strong Python skills, Strong C/C++ skills, Linux system administration experience, Experience with CI and Git, Experience with test automation frameworks, Hands-on embedded systems experience, Experience with board bring-up and instrumentation, Experience with HIL/SIL/EOL test architectures, Experience building automation for factory or safety-critical environments, Ability to own cross-disciplinary test programs end-to-end, Ability to work onsite in South San Francisco regularly, Willingness to participate in on-call rotations and travel up to 20% 📃 Skills: Python, C++, C, Linux, Git, CI, SIL, HIL, EOLT, DAQ, Automation, Embedded, Oscilloscopes, Instrumentation 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role You will be the Senior Integration & Test Software Engineer (Long Range Platform) owning software-driven test systems that validate our long-range delivery drones across engineering, manufacturing, and fleet operations. Zipline's mission to deliver critical goods at scale depends on test systems that catch failures before flight and enable rapid, reliable product iterations. You will operate at the intersection of embedded flight code, factory automation, and field operations: designing, deploying, and sustaining turnkey SIL/HIL/EOLT test rigs and automation that directly affect throughput, defect rates, and fleet reliability in production and operational deployments. What You'll Do - Own end-to-end delivery of test systems (SIL, HIL, EOLT, bench rigs) from prototype through production deployment and field sustainment. You are the technical owner accountable for schedules, acceptance criteria, and production readiness. - Ship measurable improvements: define and meet targets such as test coverage %, mean time to detect (MTTD) critical failures, reduction in test cycle time, and defect escape rate reductions tied to your systems. - Architect, implement, and maintain software that runs and orchestrates test sequences, data capture, analysis, and reporting. Build automation and dashboards used by manufacturing engineers and test operators. - Integrate software with hardware under test: board bring-up, sensor calibration, motion systems, power systems, and DAQ instruments. Validate against datasheets and representative hardware in lab and factory settings. - Lead investigations and root-cause analysis for failures discovered in test or production, produce corrective plans, and drive fixes to closure with engineering and operations stakeholders. - Define and enforce test standards, pass/fail criteria, and validation protocols used across products and production lines. Own CI/validation pipelines that gate changes to flight or manufacturing systems. - Work cross-functionally with embedded firmware, hardware, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, and field ops to deploy test systems at scale; coordinate vendor hardware and field installation when required. - Support on-call and production escalation cadence for systems you own. Travel to manufacturing or distribution sites as required. What You'll Bring - Proven history owning cross-disciplinary test or integration programs end-to-end. - 5+ years building integration/test software that interfaces with hardware. - Strong Python and C/C++ skills. - Linux system administration experience. - Experience with CI, Git, and test automation frameworks. - Hands-on experience with embedded systems, board bring-up, instrumentation, and interpreting datasheets. - Experience with HIL/SIL/EOL test architectures. - Experience building automation used in factory or safety-critical environments. - Demonstrated record of delivering systems with measurable impact on throughput, yield, defect reduction, or reliability improvements. - Comfortable with high-impact deadlines, on-call rotations, and occasional site travel. - Ability to drive cross-functional technical decisions and define acceptance criteria. - Ability to work regularly onsite in South San Francisco. - Visa sponsorship available. What Else You Need to Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. We value diversity and welcome applications from those traditionally underrepresented in tech.

🏢 Summary: Hands-on Mechanical/Electromechanical Test Engineer role focused on validating drone hardware systems from prototype through fleet deployment. The position involves developing automated test systems, conducting failure investigations, designing fixtures and instrumentation, and collaborating across engineering and manufacturing teams to ensure reliability and release readiness. Based onsite in South San Francisco with lab work and travel to suppliers and deployment sites. 🗂️ Requirements: Experience validating mechanical or electromechanical hardware, Experience designing and building mechanical test rigs and fixtures, Strong knowledge of statics, dynamics, kinematics, fatigue, wear, materials, bolted joints, tolerance analysis and FEA, Advanced CAD and technical drawing skills, Experience with sensors and data-acquisition systems, Experience validating actuators, transmissions, bearings, seals, PCBAs and embedded controls, Expertise in experimental design and statistical testing methods, Experience developing automated test and analysis tools using Python or equivalent, Experience performing root cause and failure investigations, Experience testing environmental durability and high-cycle mechanisms, Ability to translate field data into laboratory tests, Experience collaborating with design, manufacturing and supplier teams, Strong written and verbal technical communication, Ability to work onsite in South San Francisco and travel as needed 📃 Skills: Python, CAD, FEA, PCBAs, DAQ, Instrumentation, Kinematics, Dynamics, Statics, Thermocouples, Accelerometers, Sensors, Actuators, Bearings, Transmissions, Automation, Telemetry, Calibration, Reliability, Embedded 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role We are hiring ME Test engineers across multiple different teams; Avionics, Ground Systems and SMI. We are a hardware engineering organization with Mechanical, Electrical, Embedded Systems and Test Engineering and are responsible for the design of all flight hardware and operations equipment; this includes Safety Systems, Primary Structure, Launcher, Recovery System, Battery Chargers, Power System, Network System and countless other mechanisms critical to the function of the vehicle and ground systems. We are working on a product that can be deployed in hours, integrate seamlessly with our customers, and operate without human intervention while being deployed worldwide at scale. This is a hands-on individual-contributor role spanning test strategy, fixture design, instrumentation, experimental execution, data analysis, manufacturing test and failure investigation. You will work closely with design engineers while maintaining independent judgment about test adequacy, product risk, and release readiness. What You'll Do • Own end-to-end validation of mechanisms, structures, enclosures, electromechanical assemblies, and mechanical interfaces from prototype through fleet deployment. • Translate product requirements, hazard analyses, field conditions, customer workflows, and known failure modes into measurable test requirements and pass/fail criteria. • Develop verification plans with clear coverage, traceability, sample sizes, margins, acceptance criteria, and exit gates. • Design, analyze, build, commission, and maintain test stands, fixtures, environmental setups, automated cycle rigs, and representative system test articles. • Select and integrate instrumentation such as load cells, torque sensors, displacement sensors, accelerometers, strain gauges, thermocouples, cameras, current sensors, and data-acquisition hardware. • Produce drawings, tolerance analyses, safety reviews, BOMs, assembly instructions, calibration procedures, and maintenance documentation for test equipment. • Apply free-body diagrams, hand calculations, tolerance analysis, kinematics, fatigue and wear models, and FEA to design test equipment and establish representative loading. • Develop tests covering structural strength, mechanism performance, high-cycle life, wear, ingress, contamination, corrosion, temperature, humidity, misuse, obstruction, package variation, installation variation, and fault recovery. • Validate interactions among mechanical hardware, actuators, sensors, electronics, embedded controls, packages, users, and droids. • Automate test execution, data collection, health monitoring, fault detection, and reporting using Python or equivalent tools. • Define sample sizes, acceleration factors, confidence levels, and statistical acceptance criteria that produce defensible reliability evidence. • Correlate bench and accelerated tests with field telemetry, returned hardware, service records, and observed environmental conditions. • Identify gaps between laboratory tests and field failures, then update test profiles to improve fidelity. • Lead structured failure investigations using physical inspection, teardown, dimensional measurements, logs, instrumentation, and fault-tree methods. • Distinguish product failures from fixture, instrumentation, software, setup, and operator-induced failures. • Partner with Mechanical, Electrical, Embedded Software, Systems, Reliability, Manufacturing, Operations, and Safety to drive failures to root cause and permanent corrective action. • Establish regression tests that detect hardware and software changes affecting mechanism performance, safety, or reliability. • Present test evidence, unresolved risks, and release recommendations clearly during design and readiness reviews. • Work directly with suppliers and manufacturing partners to validate components, tooling, processes, and production changes. • Mentor engineers and technicians in fixture design, instrumentation, experimental methods, test execution, and failure analysis. • Improve test throughput, repeatability, automation, lab utilization, and failure-to-answer time. What You'll Bring • Proven ownership of mechanical or electromechanical hardware validation through development, qualification, production ramp, and field deployment. • Deep hands-on experience designing and building mechanical test rigs, fixtures, instrumented assemblies, and automated cycle-test systems. • Strong mechanical fundamentals, including statics, dynamics, kinematics, fatigue, wear, materials, bolted joints, tolerance analysis, and FEA. • Advanced CAD and drawing skills for test equipment, fixtures, interfaces, and released hardware. • Practical experience selecting, installing, calibrating, and troubleshooting sensors and data-acquisition systems. • Experience validating mechanisms containing actuators, transmissions, bearings, seals, sensors, PCBAs, harnesses, and embedded controls. • Demonstrated expertise in experimental design, measurement uncertainty, repeatability, sample-size selection, accelerated testing, and statistical confidence. • Experience developing automated test and analysis tools using Python or an equivalent language. • Track record finding root causes for complex or intermittent failures and verifying that corrective actions prevent recurrence. • Experience testing environmental durability, high-cycle mechanisms, structural loads, abuse conditions, and fault recovery. • Ability to translate imperfect field data into representative laboratory tests and actionable engineering conclusions. • Experience working with design teams, suppliers, manufacturing, and technicians to execute test programs under aggressive schedules. • Clear written and verbal communication, including concise test plans, reproducible reports, and evidence-based readiness recommendations. Location and logistics: This role is in person in South San Francisco with regular work in the lab. Travel to suppliers, manufacturers, test locations, and deployment sites is expected based on program needs. Periodic off-hours support may be required during critical builds, test campaigns, production ramps, and field escalations. Traits: Mechanical curiosity, disciplined experimental practice, skepticism of weak evidence, calm troubleshooting, and willingness to remain with a problem until it is understood. What Success Looks Like • Delivered repeatable test systems and validation evidence that enabled Dropbox assemblies to meet their reliability and release targets. • Identified critical failure modes before fleet deployment and verified effective corrective actions. • Improved correlation between accelerated testing and field performance. • Reduced test cycle time, manual effort, and failure-to-answer time through better fixtures, automation, and analysis. • Established reusable test methods that increased validation coverage and supported production and fleet expansion. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

🏢 Summary: Lead the systems engineering team for autonomous drone logistics platforms, defining product architecture, verification, and safety-critical system capabilities at global scale. The role focuses on scaling autonomous aircraft operations, optimizing performance and safety, and driving cross-functional technical roadmaps for complex real-world environments. 🗂️ Requirements: Leadership experience delivering complex technical systems, Experience with safety-critical autonomous systems, Systems engineering expertise, Architecture and interface definition experience, Verification and validation planning experience, Fault-tolerant and fail-safe systems knowledge, Tradeoff analysis using models and metrics, Cross-functional communication skills, Team mentoring and technical leadership 📃 Skills: Systems, Autonomy, Architecture, Verification, Validation, Safety, FaultTolerance, Modeling, Optimization, Metrics, Testing, Regulatory, Hardware, Software, Logistics, Aerospace 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role You will lead the systems engineering team responsible for defining the product capabilities roadmap, decomposing those capabilities into concrete architectures engineering teams can deliver on, and system validation & verification of new capabilities across our current platforms as well as new and novel autonomous aircraft concepts. In 2026, we will scale Platform 2 deliveries per day by 10x while we ramp range by 5x - so, we'll fly 50x further every day than we do today. We'll do that while ramping into significantly more complex airspaces and environmental conditions across 5 metros in the US. Then, in 2027 we'll make a similar 10x+ jump while expanding across the globe. This is a key leadership position to find the right path for enabling safe scaling into complex environments, defining architectures to achieve safety and cost goals over hardware and software revisions, and balancing competing objectives such as range, acoustics, delivery throughput, and cost. What You'll Do Scope: Product level requirements, architecture and decomposition, verification plans, operational performance monitoring of key product attributes and functions including: - Network Optimization & Capacity - Aircraft Autonomy - Flight Performance - Operational Design Domain / Operating Envelope - Flight Reliability and Fault Management Responsibilities: - Serve as a trusted technical expert of high-reliability, safety-critical autonomous systems owning system level architecture, requirements, metrics, and test coverage to ensure product capabilities are delivered safely - Define interfaces and drive cross-disciplinary discussions to align on architectures - Develop frameworks and facilitate trade studies to optimize performance, safety, and cost - Create and maintain systems models and diagrams - Set standards for hardware and software releases and test requirements - Partner with safety engineering and regulatory teams to prove flight worthiness Leadership: - Grow and mentor a world-class Systems Engineering team and adjacent teams - Drive multi-year technical roadmap across the product What You'll Bring - Demonstrated leadership delivering complex technical solutions amid ambiguity and competing priorities - Track record of shipping high-reliability, safety-critical autonomous systems into real-world operation - Deep systems engineering experience with product requirements, architecture, interface definition, system decomposition, verification planning, and validation - Technical judgment in safety-critical autonomy including fail-safe, fault-tolerant, and fail-operative approaches - Experience making tradeoffs among safety, performance, cost, and operational constraints using models, metrics, and test evidence - Ability to develop technical leaders and communicate system decisions across engineering, safety, regulatory, and operational teams What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. We value diversity and welcome applications from those traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply.

🏢 Summary: Mechanical Engineer role focused on designing, validating, and scaling structural and electromechanical hardware for long-range autonomous delivery aircraft. The position involves end-to-end ownership of airframe subsystems, from CAD design and simulation through production ramp and field sustainment, with close collaboration across engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams. 🗂️ Requirements: 4+ years of experience designing electromechanical and structural assemblies, Experience owning complex subassemblies through full product lifecycle, Advanced CAD proficiency, Strong GD&T knowledge, Experience creating manufacturing-ready drawings and inspection criteria, FEA and mechanical analysis experience, Hands-on prototyping and validation testing experience, Supplier engagement and DFM experience, Experience with structural components, mechanisms, composites, or metallic assemblies, Ability to travel to suppliers, production sites, and field depots 📃 Skills: CAD, GD&T, FEA, DFM, NX, Composites, Injection, Stamping, Extrusion, Prototyping, Manufacturing, Simulation 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role You are an owner-oriented Mechanical Engineer joining Zipline's Long Range Platform team to design, validate, and deliver critical airframe and electromechanical hardware used in long-distance autonomous delivery aircraft. This role sits at the intersection of field logistics, fleet operations, and mass production: your work will reduce aircraft weight, increase structural and mechanism reliability in harsh field conditions, and enable higher sortie rates for customers who depend on predictable, high-uptime deliveries. You will operate with end-to-end hardware responsibility—from requirement definition and architecture trade-offs through prototype validation, supplier integration, production ramp, and in-field sustainment—and you will make decisions that directly affect fleet availability, safety margins, and cost-per-delivery. What You'll Do - Own specific Long Range mechanical subsystems (e.g., wing/fuselage primary structure, deployable delivery mechanism, landing gear and attach fittings, or integrated payload-mount assemblies) and be the primary technical lead from concept to sustained production. - Translate operational and fleet requirements into quantitative mechanical performance targets and design architectures. - Produce and iterate detailed CAD models, tolerance stacks, GD&T, and manufacturing drawings enabling supplier quotes, DFx reviews, and inspection plans for volume production. - Run first-principles analysis and engineering simulation (FEA, buckling, fatigue, jointed-assembly loads) and validate with bench tests and flight-representative test rigs. - Prototype rapidly, lead hands-on build-test-iterate campaigns, and produce test plans tied to release criteria and field reliability goals. - Define and own verification matrices, failure modes and corrective actions through qualification and production ramp. - Partner with Electrical, Software, Integration/Test, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations teams to resolve cross-functional tradeoffs and production issues. - Support field deployments and production startups as required. What You'll Bring - 4+ years industry experience designing electromechanical and structural assemblies. - Demonstrated ownership of complex subassemblies through full product cycles. - Deep CAD fluency and rigorous GD&T skills. - Experience producing manufacturing-ready drawings and inspection criteria. - Proven track record applying FEA, hand calculations, tolerance analysis, and test correlation. - Hands-on prototyping and test experience. - Direct supplier engagement experience. - Experience with structural components, mechanisms, fastener systems, composites, or metallic airframe-scale assemblies. - Willingness and ability to travel as needed. - Strong end-to-end ownership mindset. Location & Logistics This role is based in the listed Long Range engineering location (on-site or hybrid as specified by the team). Expect regular on-site collaboration during critical phases and periodic travel to supplier/manufacturing sites and field depots. Nice-to-have - Aerospace or automotive validation experience. - Composites design experience. - High-efficiency electric powertrain exposure. - NX proficiency. - Experience scaling prototypes to injection molding, stamping, or extrusion processes. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. We value diversity and welcome applications from candidates who may not meet every qualification listed.

🏢 Summary: Cell Test Engineer role focused on developing and executing battery cell validation programs for autonomous delivery aircraft. The position involves testing lithium-ion cell performance, safety, aging, and reliability using advanced laboratory instrumentation and automation tools. Engineers will collaborate across battery, systems, manufacturing, and supplier teams to improve aircraft battery systems and support product development decisions. 🗂️ Requirements: Experience in battery cell engineering or validation engineering, Experience with battery cell characterization, life testing, abuse testing, or reliability testing, Strong understanding of lithium-ion battery chemistry, degradation, thermal behavior, and electrical performance, Experience operating battery cyclers, environmental chambers, DAQ systems, and laboratory instrumentation, Experience developing automated test software or data analysis tools, Ability to design experiments and analyze large experimental datasets, Familiarity with battery safety standards and abuse testing methodologies, Experience with thermocouples, RTDs, voltage and current measurement, impedance measurement, and thermal imaging, Strong written and verbal technical communication skills 📃 Skills: Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, DAQ, RTDs, thermocouples, lithium-ion, thermal, instrumentation, automation, cyclers, impedance, thermal-imaging 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role Zipline builds autonomous delivery aircraft and ground systems that operate daily in demanding field environments. The performance, reliability, and safety of our aircraft begin at the battery cell. As a Cell Test Engineer, you will develop the test systems, methodologies, and data that characterize cell performance, validate new technologies, and improve the safety and reliability of our battery systems. The Battery & Power Electronics team is responsible for delivering power throughout the aircraft—from individual cells to complete battery packs and power distribution systems. You will design and execute experiments that evaluate electrical performance, thermal behavior, degradation, abuse tolerance, and lifetime across multiple cell technologies, enabling critical engineering and sourcing decisions. This role is open to engineers at all levels. Responsibilities and technical scope will be matched to experience, with opportunities to grow from owning individual test programs to defining cell validation strategy across multiple aircraft platforms. What You'll Do - Own end-to-end development of cell validation programs from requirements → experiment design → execution → analysis → engineering recommendations → continuous improvement. - Develop and execute cell characterization programs evaluating capacity, impedance, power capability, efficiency, thermal behavior, and aging performance. - Design validation plans covering electrical, thermal, environmental, mechanical, and abuse testing to qualify cells for drone applications. - Design experiments that evaluate cycle life, calendar aging, fast charging, temperature performance, storage conditions, and operational limits. - Develop custom fixtures, instrumentation, wiring, thermal interfaces, and automation supporting repeatable, high-throughput cell testing. - Operate and improve battery cyclers, environmental chambers, thermal measurement systems, DAQ equipment, and laboratory instrumentation. - Develop automated test scripts, data processing pipelines, and reporting tools using Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, or equivalent software. - Analyze large experimental datasets to identify degradation mechanisms, performance trends, failure modes, and opportunities for optimization. - Perform post-test teardown inspections and correlate electrical performance with mechanical and thermal observations. - Support abuse testing including crush, penetration, thermal runaway propagation, overcharge, short circuit, vibration, shock, and environmental exposure. - Work closely with battery design, systems engineering, reliability, manufacturing, and suppliers to define validation plans and support product development decisions. - Develop laboratory procedures, calibration methods, safety documentation, and standardized test methodologies that improve repeatability and engineering efficiency. - Support supplier qualification, incoming cell validation, technology benchmarking, and root cause investigations involving field-return hardware. What You'll Bring - Experience in battery cell engineering, electrochemical testing, energy storage systems, or validation engineering appropriate to your career level. - Experience developing or executing battery cell characterization, life testing, abuse testing, or reliability testing. - Strong understanding of lithium-ion battery fundamentals including cell chemistry, degradation mechanisms, thermal behavior, and electrical performance. - Experience operating battery cyclers, environmental chambers, DAQ systems, thermal instrumentation, and laboratory equipment. - Experience developing automated test software or data analysis tools using Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, or equivalent platforms. - Ability to design experiments using statistical methods and interpret large experimental datasets. - Familiarity with battery safety standards and abuse testing methodologies. - Experience with instrumentation including thermocouples, RTDs, current and voltage measurement, impedance measurement, and thermal imaging. - Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate technical findings and influence engineering decisions. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

🏢 Summary: Senior and Staff Perception Engineer roles focused on building and deploying production-grade computer vision and deep learning systems for autonomous drone delivery. The position involves developing cloud and onboard perception models, large-scale semantic and 3D mapping systems, and validation infrastructure for safety-critical logistics operations. Engineers will work on real-world autonomy challenges using aerial survey data, distributed training systems, and modern ML architectures. 🗂️ Requirements: 5+ years experience for Senior or 8+ years for Staff in deep learning-based perception systems, Experience with 3D geometry, semantic understanding, or remote sensing mapping, Strong knowledge of classical computer vision, Experience with CNN, transformer, and foundation model architectures, Experience building and deploying production ML systems, Experience with training, annotation, and evaluation pipelines, Ability to work with distributed training and data infrastructure, Experience in robotics or autonomy applications required for Staff, Roadmapping and technical leadership experience for Staff 📃 Skills: Python, ComputerVision, DeepLearning, CNN, Transformers, Segmentation, Geometry, Mapping, Calibration, Epipolar, StructureFromMotion, GaussianSplats, Robotics, Autonomy, GPU, Cloud, DistributedTraining, ML, Perception 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role Zipline is operating the world's largest autonomous logistics network—delivering critical medical and commercial goods globally with high reliability, precision, and scale. As we expand into increasingly complex, safety-critical environments, the systems behind our autonomy stack must be robust, adaptable, and deeply integrated—especially at the intersection of perception and deployment. Our operational scale makes this a Physical AI opportunity like no other. We're hiring senior and staff perception engineers to join our Droid team, the group responsible for the autonomy that powers Zipline's backyard delivery experience. This team owns the full stack of onboard, offboard and cloud-side perception systems that inform, validate, and augment our onboard autonomy. From generating rich 3D and semantic priors from aerial survey data to learning customer preferences and terrain features at scale, your work will define how we enable Zipline aircraft to scale mission-critical deliveries across complex, real-world environments. This is not a purely research role—you'll be expected to move fast, ship production-grade systems, and find clever ways to apply state-of-the-art techniques to tangible, high-impact problems. What You'll Do - Own the design and implementation of computer vision ML models that run in the cloud or on an on-prem GPU cluster, helping support and scale on-device perception models. - Train and deploy large-scale models for semantic segmentation, feedforward 4D geometry, and learned preference modeling using aerial survey images, production deliveries and synthetic generated data. - Design and ship tools that predict deliverability, generate high-fidelity priors, and reduce operational friction of onboarding new customers in new environments. - Design evaluation and validation infrastructure to ensure models behave reliably in the field. - Ship new production features or models approximately every 6 weeks. - Senior engineers will lead architectural decisions, drive experimentation, and scale production-grade perception systems. - Staff engineers will roadmap the future of offboard models and lead challenging ML initiatives. What You'll Bring - At least 5+ years of experience (Senior) or 8+ years of experience (Staff) building and deploying deep learning-based perception systems. - Strong understanding of classical computer vision including camera calibration, epipolar geometry, and structure-from-motion. - Experience combining classical vision methods with modern ML approaches such as multi-view models and gaussian splats. - Hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, iterating on, and optimizing CNN, transformer, and foundation-style model architectures in production. - Engineering mindset focused on shipping scalable solutions. - Familiarity with training, data annotation, and evaluation pipelines. - Ability to work across data pipelines, training infrastructure, and distributed training systems. - Experience deploying models in robotics or autonomy applications is strongly preferred for Senior and required for Staff. - Staff candidates should demonstrate roadmap ownership and experience launching new ML initiatives. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

🏢 Summary: Senior Motor Test Engineer role focused on testing and validating electric propulsion systems, motors, actuators, and propeller assemblies for autonomous aircraft. The position involves leading performance and reliability test campaigns, analyzing field failures, validating models, and developing automated testing systems to support design, manufacturing, and flight readiness. 🗂️ Requirements: Hands-on experience with electric motors and actuators, Experience with efficiency characterization and electrical and thermal model evaluation, Experience with actuator performance and control system evaluation, Experience with structural and dynamics performance testing, Experience with accelerometer and strain instrumentation, Experience building test fixtures, dynamometers, thrust stands, or automated data-acquisition systems, Proficiency in Python or equivalent, Ability to analyze reliability risks and connect test results to design decisions, Experience collaborating with hardware design and manufacturing teams 📃 Skills: Python, BLDC, FEA, Dynamometers, Instrumentation, Actuators, Propulsion, Accelerometers, Strain, Thermal, ControlSystems, DataAcquisition 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role Zipline's aircraft rely on electric propulsion and actuation hardware that performs predictably in demanding conditions. As a Senior Motor Test Engineer, you will build the evidence behind that confidence by characterizing motors, propulsion systems, actuators, and propeller subassemblies in the lab and connecting results to flight and field performance. You will own performance and reliability test campaigns from specification through technical recommendation. Your work will inform design release, vehicle readiness, field reliability, model validation, and production-test decisions. What You'll Do - Conduct full electromechanical characterization of BLDC motors including loss characterization, thermal coefficient extraction, and demagnetization testing - Evaluate propulsion systems (motor + inverter + propeller) for thrust, efficiency, and thermal behavior across the full operational envelope - Test servo and motor-based actuators for positional accuracy, losses, holding torque, and closed-loop dynamic response - Define and own test specifications covering efficiency maps, thermal performance, torque-speed curves, cogging, back-EMF, and endurance - Perform root cause analysis on field failures and correlate back to test data to close the loop between lab and flight - Own the full performance and reliability test campaign for your hardware - Characterize wear-out mechanisms for complex actuator and propeller subassemblies, subject to billions of damage cycles per lifetime - Develop novel ways for validating motor and structural models and FEA validation - Partner with mechanical, electrical, and firmware engineers to translate design intent into rigorous test requirements - Work with manufacturing to develop production test strategies that balance coverage, throughput, and cost - Develop automated test scripts and data acquisition pipelines (Python, or equivalent) What You'll Bring - Hands-on experience with electric motors and actuators, including efficiency characterization, losses evaluation, testing to evaluate electrical and thermal models - Hands-on experience with actuator performance and control system evaluation - Hands-on experience with structural and dynamics performance, including material testing, dynamic response, accelerometer and strain instrumentation - Experience building or improving test fixtures, dynamometers, thrust stands, instrumentation, or automated data-acquisition systems - Proficiency in Python or equivalent - Sound engineering judgment to connect test results to design decisions, model validation, reliability risks, and field performance - Experience working across hardware design and manufacturing teams to translate test evidence into practical product and production changes What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

🏢 Summary: Global Supply Manager role focused on end-to-end commodity strategy, supplier performance, and sourcing for mission-critical hardware supporting autonomous aircraft and logistics operations. The position involves supplier negotiations, qualification, manufacturing ramp execution, and cross-functional collaboration with engineering and operations teams. This is an onsite role in South San Francisco with regular supplier engagement and international travel. 🗂️ Requirements: 5+ years in sourcing, commodity management, or supplier leadership for high-reliability hardware production, Experience negotiating and managing multi-million-dollar supplier contracts, Technical expertise in electronics, motors, batteries, composites, or precision machining, Experience with supplier qualification and industrialization into volume production, Strong analytical skills in should-cost modeling and supplier risk analysis, Familiarity with AS9100/ISO9001 quality systems and traceability requirements, Ability to work onsite in South San Francisco, Willingness to travel 20–30% internationally and domestically 📃 Skills: Sourcing, Procurement, Negotiation, AS9100, ISO9001, PPAP, FAI, Analytics, Manufacturing, Industrialization, Composites, Electronics, Batteries, Machining, Avionics, SupplyChain, RiskManagement 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role We're hiring a Global Supply Manager to own end-to-end commodity strategy and supplier performance for mission-critical hardware that enables Zipline's autonomous aircraft and global delivery operations. You will operate at the intersection of manufacturing ramp execution, product engineering, and global sourcing—delivering reliable, scalable supply for systems where component failure or late deliveries directly impact flight operations and customer outcomes. This is an in-person role based at our HQ in South San Francisco with regular on-site supplier engagements and 20–30% travel to supplier sites across North America, Asia, and Europe. What You'll Do - Own one or more critical commodity/category portfolios end-to-end: sourcing strategy, supplier selection, contract terms, qualification, ramp to volume, and long-term supplier development. - Set and deliver measurable targets within your portfolio, including cost reduction, supplier on-time delivery improvements, quality reduction targets, qualification cycle-time, and ramp throughput milestones. - Lead competitive source selection and negotiations for multi-year, multi-million-dollar supply agreements. - Manage supplier qualification and performance through PPAP plans, scorecards, QBRs, corrective action plans, and on-site audits. - Integrate with Engineering, Supplier Industrialization, Manufacturing Operations, Materials Planning, and Program Management teams. - Architect and execute risk mitigation strategies and manage supply disruption responses. - Drive supplier cost-down and value-engineering initiatives. - Own supplier disputes, claims, and contractual compliance. What You'll Bring - 5+ years of hands-on sourcing, commodity management, or supplier leadership experience supporting high-reliability hardware production. - Proven track record negotiating and managing multi-million-dollar supplier contracts and delivering measurable outcomes. - Deep technical familiarity with at least one critical commodity area including electronics assemblies, motors, batteries, composites, or precision machining. - Experience driving supplier qualification and industrialization into volume production under aggressive schedules. - Strong analytical skills including should-cost modeling, total-cost-of-ownership analysis, spend segmentation, and supplier risk scoring. - Familiarity with supplier quality systems and regulatory/traceability requirements including AS9100/ISO9001 and FAI. - Must be based in or willing to work full-time onsite in South San Francisco. - Ability to travel 20–30% for supplier and site visits, including international travel. Major bonuses (not required) - Advanced degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or Business. - Prior experience supporting flight-critical systems or battery supply chains. - Experience managing localization or vertical integration programs and global supplier portfolios. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity in the workplace.

🏢 Summary: Senior Software Engineer role focused on autonomy motion planning for large-scale drone delivery systems, developing real-time trajectory generation, decision-making, and safety-critical software for autonomous flight. The position involves optimization, simulation, and validation of autonomous systems operating in complex real-world environments. 🗂️ Requirements: Master's degree in Computer Science or related field, 3+ years building software for safety-critical systems, Experience with autonomous systems in aerospace, AV, or robotics, Strong proficiency in Rust, Strong proficiency in C++, Strong proficiency in C, Experience with real-time fault-tolerant embedded/Linux development, Expertise in planning and search algorithms, Experience with trajectory optimization and MPC, Hands-on experience with SIL/HIL simulation and log replay, Experience shipping production-grade autonomy systems, Ability to collaborate with perception, controls, and flight operations teams 📃 Skills: Rust, C++, C, Linux, MPC, A*, RRT*, SIL, HIL, Robotics, Autonomy, Simulation, Optimization, Embedded 🏢 Description: About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role Zipline operates the world's largest autonomous logistics system (ground or air) — and in the coming year, we will be hyper-scaling from thousands to tens of thousands of carefully coordinated drone deliveries in several dense, dynamic U.S. metros. Our Autonomy Motion Planning team is looking for a Senior Software Engineer who is passionate about developing autonomous systems for the real world. This role will explore cutting-edge approaches to decision making and trajectory planning that will enable more accurate and timely deliveries, putting you in the position to make critical product decisions that will shape our future architectures. What You'll Do - Build real-time trajectory generation and decision-making for autonomous flight (search-based, sampling, MPC, convex/non-convex optimization). - Tackle joint optimization across safety, energy, time, and reliability—balancing mission goals with vehicle constraints. - Plan in uncertain environments with complex dynamics: robustness to wind/turbulence, degraded sensors, and partial observability. - Design safety-critical software for avoiding obstacles and interfacing with humans while delivering and picking up packages. - Extend the autonomy stack for new aircraft and payloads; define clean interfaces with perception and controls. - Prove it before flight: large-scale sim, SIL/HIL, log replay, and fault-injection. - Mine real fleet data to validate safety metrics, improve models, and burn down long-tail failure modes. What You'll Bring - Master's degree in Computer Science or related field and 3+ years of experience building software for safety-critical systems (aerospace/AV/robotics). - Strong in Rust/C++/C for real-time, fault-tolerant code on embedded/Linux. - Depth in planning & search (e.g. A*/ anytime / RRT*/sampling), trajectory optimization/MPC—shipped on real robots/vehicles. - Hands-on with simulation at scale, SIL/HIL, log replay, and metrics-driven validation. - Evidence of shipping production-grade autonomy through ambiguous, noisy conditions—owning the last mile to reliability. - Systems thinker who collaborates tightly with perception, controls, and flight ops; crisp docs and design reviews. What Else You Need To Know Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!