Principal Software Engineer, Zipline

$200-240k

Python
Kafka
Rust
Golang
Expert level
San Francisco Bay Area

3-5 days a week in office (South San Francisco, CA)

Zipline

Transforming the way goods move

Open for applications

Zipline

Transforming the way goods move

1001+ employees

HealthcareB2BLogisticsSupply ChainDelivery

Open for applications

$200-240k

Python
Kafka
Rust
Golang
Expert level
San Francisco Bay Area

3-5 days a week in office (South San Francisco, CA)

1001+ employees

HealthcareB2BLogisticsSupply ChainDelivery

Company mission

To open up access to emergency medical care to everyone in the world.

Role

Who you are

  • 12+ years of experience in software development with a strong background in backend technologies like Golang, Rust, or Python
  • Proven track record of designing and implementing high-performance distributed systems in a cloud environment
  • Previous experience owning engineering-wide development resources such as build systems, repo toolchains, coding standards, design standards, test environments, and critical toolchains
  • A strong sense of ownership and drive
  • Ability to communicate and implement change across an engineering team

What the job involves

  • In this role, you’ll be responsible for making architectural decisions at the system level, e.g. how services should be split, how to contain faults, and our multi-region strategy. You’ll also have opportunities to lead the team on large technical undertakings, such as language migration from python to golang
  • As one of the most senior software engineers at Zipline, you’ll be expected to bring a mentor’s mindset, a self-starter attitude, and an ability to lead by example of what great engineering looks like
  • Develop and maintain robust backend services using Golang, Rust, and Python, ensuring high reliability and performance
  • Design and implement solutions for large-scale distributed systems, focusing on scalability, latency, and fault tolerance
  • Architect and develop systems based on event-driven paradigms using technologies like Kafka to handle real-time data processing
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate backend systems with other company products and third-party services
  • Act as a cultural pillar of best practices in code health, testing, and maintainability
  • Analyze and improve efficiency, scalability, and stability of various system resources
  • Mentor junior engineers, fostering an environment of growth and development

Our take

Zipline is transforming the way goods move by creating the first logistics system that serves all humans equally via a drone delivery service. As the first emergency drone logistics operation, Zipline is fundamentally changing how we transport emergency medical supplies and has expanded into commercial deliveries. It's partnered with several major companies, including Walmart.

Zipline has an edge over potential future competitors as the company has thousands of hours and over 35 million miles of flight to prove the system is safe and effective. It’s also one of the first companies to receive a full commercial operating certificate, putting Zipline in a strong position to continuously branch out to other markets.

The unicorn company operates globally and has signed its first government contract with Rwanda to provide up to 2 million drone deliveries by 2029. It is also aiming to start commercial deliveries to individual households in the near future. With big companies such as Amazon and Walmart examining “instant” delivery options, Zipline has a proven track record and the equipment and logistics in place to provide such services. 2023 funding pushed Zipline's valuation to a staggering $4.2 billion, indicating a bright future.

Kirsty headshot

Kirsty

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Insights

Top investors

Some candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

34% employee growth in 12 months

Company

Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)

Apr 2023

$330m

SERIES F

Jul 2021

$250m

SERIES E

Total funding: $813.7m

Company benefits

  • Generous parental leave
  • Generous vacation policy
  • Monthly wellness stipend
  • Monthly team events
  • Healthcare, vision, and dental
  • Healthy, delicious meals and snacks
  • Dog-friendly offices

Company values

  • Customer obsession - The standard of care
  • Ownership - Getting the job done
  • Transparency - Breeds trust
  • Continuous improvement - Tackling hard problems
  • Serve Your Species - Empowering one another

Company HQ

South San Francisco, CA

Leadership

Having studied Economics and Biotechnology at Harvard, they worked for almost 11 months as a self-employed rock climber. They combined their academic and practical experience to co-found Zipline in July 2011.

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