Autonomous Systems Field Engineer

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

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Field Systems Engineer in California to own the health and performance of Platform 2 subsystems. You’ll investigate complex field failures using telemetry, software tools, physical inspection, and hands-on testing, leading containment to permanent fixes.

You will work across avionics, perception, powertrain, ground systems, and structures, partnering with design, test, reliability, and manufacturing to deliver reliable, safe, and cost-effective solutions.

Qualifications

• 3–8 years of relevant experience in field engineering, systems engineering, reliability, failure analysis, test engineering, product engineering, or hardware/software validation.
• A degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, robotics, computer engineering, computer science, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical authority for Platform 2 systems, developing understanding of design, behavior, failure modes, and operation.
• Lead investigations of complex field issues using telemetry, logs, bench testing, and first-principles reasoning.
• Provide technical leadership during field escalations, including safe containment and hands-on troubleshooting.
• Drive issues from detection through root cause, corrective action, validation, and fleet implementation.
• Build software, dashboards, automated analyses, and diagnostic tools to identify degraded behavior before disruption.
• Collaborate with design, test, reliability, manufacturing, quality, and operations teams to balance safety, reliability, availability, and cost.
• Translate field experience into engineering requirements and influence future designs for reliability and maintainability.
• Develop and validate troubleshooting, inspection, repair, and return-to-service procedures.

Skills

Field engineering

Systems thinking

Root-cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Electrical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Robotics

Tools

Python

SQL

MATLAB

Job description

Zipline is seeking a Field Systems Engineer in California to own the health and performance of Platform 2 subsystems. You’ll investigate complex field failures using telemetry, software tools, physical inspection, and hands-on testing, leading containment to permanent fixes.

You will work across avionics, perception, powertrain, ground systems, and structures, partnering with design, test, reliability, and manufacturing to deliver reliable, safe, and cost-effective solutions.