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Mechanical Design Engineer, Structures & Mechanisms

South San Francisco, California, USA

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 designs, builds, tests, and operates autonomous delivery aircraft that need to operate at scale in a huge variety of environments. The aircraft design is fundamental to the success of Zipline. It balances high performance, low cost, and high reliability and cutting edge thinking/manufacturing processes to achieve those goals. 

As a Mechanical engineer on our Platform 2 Aircraft Structures & Mechanisms, you will own flight hardware that directly affects flight safety, fleet reliability, manufacturability, and the speed at which we scale service to new regions. At Zipline, design engineers are the primary responsible owner for structural and mechanism components across the full life cycle of hardware from initial concept, design, analysis, test, build, scaling, & field/maintenance. This person ensures that their designs will be effective across all phases of its life.

This is a hands-on individual-contributor role spanning the design and implementation of your specific as well as how it fits within the greater system. Each engineer is encouraged to question requirements, push for the best overall design/implementation, and work closely with production, operations, and test. 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 has previously demonstrated real ownership and impact of their hardware.

What You'll Do

  • Own end-to-end delivery of structural or mechanical subsystems from requirements → design → build → test → release →production/operations sustainment
  • Produce and defend system-level trade studies, tolerance stacks, load paths, failure modes, and hand-calcs/analysis that bound designs for safety-critical loads and manufacturability of high performance hardware
  • Create CAD assemblies, detailed drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing documentation for complex assemblies: own design reviews, DFM and first-article criteria
  • Lead supplier selection, qualification, and handoff: drive DFM feedback, define inspection criteria, and reduce supplier NPI cycle time and scrap rates. Own escalation and remediation when supplier output risks field operations
  • Cross-functional interface: partner daily with Systems, Software, Production, Integration & Test, Reliability, and Field Ops to align requirements, manage trade-offs, and eliminate deployment blockers
  • Ship for scale: translate prototypes into designs that meet target cost, cycle time, and inspection rates for medium-volume production; own metrics for manufacturability and in-field reliability and drive them to target.

What You'll Bring

  • Proven ownership of high performance or low margin mechanical or electromechanical hardware validation through development, qualification, production ramp, and field deployment.
  • First principles approach to engineering and a Test-first mindset: experience planning and executing environmental, vibration, fatigue, and thermal verification; ability to design test fixtures and interpret data.
  • Deep hands-on experience designing carbon composite structures, injection moulded plastics, metallic structures, and/or servo-actuated mechanisms.
  • Strong mechanical fundamentals and experience working with suppliers when developing hardware and processes.
  • Demonstrated supplier/DFM experience and track record reducing NPI cycles, scrap, or supplier defects.
  • Clear written and verbal technical communication; ability to present tradeoffs and accept/ reject risk decisions to stakeholders.

What Else You Need to Know


 The starting cash range for this role is $145,000 – $225,000. Please note that these are starting salary ranges that represent multiple internal levels. The final cash pay will depend on experience, qualifications, skills, location, and projected impact. Total compensation will also include equity, incentives, and benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, and more.

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 traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply.

If you’d like to learn more about Zipline and our teams, feel free to check out our Instagram, one of our Reddit AMAs, or our website.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

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A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

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  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
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  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
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