Hardware Test Engineer, Zipline
Structures & Mechanisms
$145-225k
+ Equity
3-5 days a week in office
Transforming the way goods move
Posted today
Transforming the way goods move
1001+ employees
Posted today
$145-225k
+ Equity
3-5 days a week in office
1001+ employees
Company mission
To build the world's first logistics system that serves all people equally.
Role
Who you are
- The best candidates are those who are comfortable as a full-stack mechanical engineer that can go broad or deep depending on the challenge at hand and is looking for real ownership and impact of their hardware
- Proven ownership of high performance or low margin 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 and comfort designing in CAD
- Practical experience selecting, installing, calibrating, and troubleshooting sensors and data-acquisition systems
- 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
- 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
What the job involves
- Zipline designs, builds, tests, and operates autonomous delivery aircraft that need to operate at scale in a huge variety of environments
- Testing is central to our ability to validate and deliver hardware and directly affect flight safety, fleet reliability, manufacturability, and the speed at which we scale service to new regions
- At Zipline, test engineers have high ownership in the definition of our test campaigns, the development of our test assets and capabilities, and execution across development, validation, and manufacturing end of line tests
- As a Hardware Test Engineer on our Platform 2 Aircraft Structures & Mechanisms, you will own mechanical heavy test and validation for flight critical assemblies, mechanism performance, and system-level behaviors
- You will develop the test methods, equipment, automation, and evidence needed to prove that the aircraft components meet its functional, safety, reliability, environmental, and lifetime requirements while balancing speed and rigor to ensure we have the best understanding of our hardware performance
- This is a hands-on individual-contributor role spanning test strategy, fixture design, instrumentation, experimental execution, data analysis, and failure investigation
- You will work closely with design engineers and provide critical feedback to improve designs while maintaining independent judgement about test adequacy, product risk, and release readiness
- Design, analyze, build, commission, and maintain custom test stands, fixtures, environmental setups, automated cycle rigs, and representative system test articles
- Own end-to-end development and execution of validation campaigns of major structural and mechanism components from prototype through fleet deployment
- Develop verification plans with clear coverage, traceability, sample sizes, margins and acceptance criteria to demonstrate structural strength, fatigue, mechanism performance, high-cycle life, wear, and much more over thousands of flights and years of duty
- Lead failure investigations from test or flight using physical inspection, teardown, dimensional measurements, logs, and instrumentation to drive failures to root cause and permanent corrective action
- Work directly design, systems, and manufacturing partner teams to clearly communicate test asset functions, present test evidence, unresolved risks, and release recommendations
Our take
Zipline is reinventing how the world moves goods - one flight at a time. What started as a bold idea to deliver life-saving medical supplies by drones has grown into the world's first logistics network designed to serve everyone, everywhere. From rushing blood and vaccines to remote clinics, to dropping off everyday essential for Walmart customers, Ziplines's autonomous drones are proving that fast, reliable delivery doesn't have to be limited by roads or geography.
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. Beyond government partnerships, Zipline has its sight set on everyday consumers, preparing to launch commercial deliveries straight to individuals houses. With its Walmart collaboration expanding and even Chipotle orders taking to the skies in Texas, Zipline isn't just redefining delivery - it's aiming to reach every corner of commerce, with a future that looks as bright as its ambitions.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
34% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 12 rounds)
Mar 2026
$200m
SERIES H
Jan 2026
$600m
SERIES H
Total funding: $2.1bn
Company HQ
South San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton
(Co-Founder & CEO)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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