Zipline International Inc.

New Products Mechanical Design Engineer

South San Francisco, California, USA

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 18 hours ago

PythonMATLABData AnalysisA/B TestingLogisticsSolidWorksFEAGD&TRoboticsMechanical DesignProblem Solving

About the role

About Zipline Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service.
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.
The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end mechanical subsystem delivery for assigned scope (examples: wing/centerbody structure, landing/release mechanisms, payload bay interfaces, or actuation systems) from concept through production release and field deployment.
Translate mission requirements (mass budget, MTBF targets, operational duty cycles, environmental exposure, and turnaround time) into concrete designs, CAD, tolerance stacks, and verification plans.
coordinate part qualification, change control, and supplier handoffs to manufacturing partners.
Drive test campaigns: design test fixtures, lead lab and flight-test instrumentation, execute structural and mechanism validation, collect data, and close failure modes against defined acceptance criteria.
Use first-principles analysis and FEA to set margins, predict loads and fatigue life, and iterate designs to meet quantified targets (mass, stiffness, life, and safety factors).
Rapidly prototype and iterate in-shop: build assemblies, lead bench and environmental tests, and convert validated prototypes into producible designs with documented producibility improvements.
Collaborate daily with aerodynamics, structures, controls/autonomy, flight test, manufacturing, and operations teams
own cross-functional tradeoffs and be the mechanical authority in design reviews.
Deliver measurable outcomes: reduce subsystem mass within specified range, demonstrate target MTBF or cycle life in test, close validation test plans to signoff, and achieve on-time drawing release for production runs.
Produce and release drawings, GD&T, BOMs, and supplier specifications; coordinate part qualification, change control, and supplier handoffs to manufacturing partners.

Requirements

Whether your expertise is in composite structures, mechanisms, or both, you combine strong engineering fundamentals with a hands-on approach to rapidly turn ideas into reliable hardware.
You are comfortable moving between concept generation, analysis, CAD, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing, always balancing performance, weight, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
You have a track record of solving difficult engineering problems through first-principles thinking, rapid experimentation, and sound technical judgment.

Nice to have

Patents, commercialized products, or exceptional personal engineering projects demonstrating creativity and craftsmanship.
Constraints: This posting preserves the role scope and seniority
Zipline may sponsor work authorization where applicable.
What Else You Need To Know
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!
Nice to have: Patents, commercialized products, or exceptional personal engineering projects demonstrating creativity and craftsmanship.

Visa & Work Authorization

Constraints: This posting preserves the role scope and seniority; Zipline may sponsor work authorization where applicable.

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