Aerospace-Grade Supplier Readiness Engineer

Namely; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a highly technical Supplier Industrialization Engineer to strengthen the mechanical supply chain for its autonomous, safety-critical aviation platform. You will own the technical readiness and ongoing performance of suppliers producing machined parts, plastics, composites, motors, rotating components, and mechanical assemblies.

Your work directly affects aircraft reliability, regulatory compliance, and production readiness.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in supplier industrialization, supplier quality, manufacturing engineering, mechanical design, NPI, or a related hardware role.
• Demonstrated ownership of supplier qualification or production readiness for a meaningful portfolio of parts, suppliers, or programs.
• Hands-on depth in at least two relevant manufacturing domains, such as machining, plastics, composites, motors, rotating assemblies, or mechanical assembly.
• Experience transitioning safety- or reliability-critical hardware from prototype into stable production.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes, tooling, fixtures, inspection, measurement systems, and process control.

Responsibilities

• Own technical supplier readiness for an assigned portfolio of mechanical parts and assemblies from sourcing through qualification, production ramp, and sustaining.
• Assess supplier capability, support selection and onboarding, and lead technical audits, validation builds, and production-readiness reviews.
• Review drawings, GD&T, tolerances, materials, finishes, special processes, and acceptance criteria for manufacturability and inspectability.
• Partner with Design Engineering to incorporate supplier feedback, resolve deviations, and improve drawings and specifications.
• Define risk-based qualification, inspection, control, and acceptance plans, including FAI, PPAP, capability studies, gauge R&R, and process validation.
• Evaluate supplier tooling, fixtures, process flow, work instructions, inspection methods, capacity, and production controls.
• Lead containment, root-cause analysis, and permanent corrective action for supplier quality issues.
• Work with Supply Chain on recovery plans, second sourcing, material or process changes, and mitigations needed to protect schedule and budget.
• Maintain clear status, risks, decisions, owners, and deadlines across multiple supplier workstreams.
• Travel to supplier and Zipline sites to support qualification, production ramp, audits, and urgent issue resolution.

Skills

Supplier industrialization

Supplier quality

Manufacturing engineering

Mechanical design

NPI

Hardware experience

Tools

NX

SolidWorks

CATIA

Creo

Job description

Zipline is seeking a highly technical Supplier Industrialization Engineer to strengthen the mechanical supply chain for its autonomous, safety-critical aviation platform. You will own the technical readiness and ongoing performance of suppliers producing machined parts, plastics, composites, motors, rotating components, and mechanical assemblies.

Your work directly affects aircraft reliability, regulatory compliance, and production readiness.