Electrical Engineer Intern (Spring 2027)

Zipline; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 25,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

In-person internship

Job summary

Zipline seeks an Electrical Engineering intern to join our team in South San Francisco or Dallas, contributing to the electronics and software that power our scalable instant logistics system.

You'll prototype new battery charging electronics, work on ground support electronics, and develop test equipment for design validation. Applicants should be early in undergrad studies (2nd year+); Masters/PhD welcome. On-site internships for Spring 2027 run January–April/May.

Qualifications

• Completed at least the second year of undergraduate study.
• Exposure to C++ or Java and object-oriented programming is a bonus.
• Masters/PhD students are eligible for consideration.

Responsibilities

• Prototyping and testing battery charging electronics; own projects within the internship.
• Architecting ground support electronics to assist air vehicle take-off and landing.
• Developing and deploying test equipment (e.g., EOLs) for design validation and production.
• Support design validation campaigns to ensure avionics meet reliability requirements.
• Root cause investigation for test, flight, or field issues.

Skills

C++

Java

Object-oriented programming

Education

Second year undergraduate

Graduate studies welcome

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Spark

Hadoop

Job description

• At Zipline, the Electrical Engineering Teams are at the heart of our flight and ground systems, responsible for designing, building, and testing all the electronics and software that goes into a scaled instant logistics system
• From custom circuit board design, EOL tester development, and sensor integration to real-time flight control and communication systems, the team ensures our platforms operate safely and effectively in some of the most challenging environments in the world
• The team works cross-functionally with mechanical, test, embedded, software, and systems engineering teams to create scalable, high-performance products that power life-saving missions every day
• Leading the way in drone delivery often means exceeding the capabilities of what’s available off the shelf, and as a result we are engineering the majority of our system in-house
• Doubling down on the reliability of our systems is critical to delivering to our next billion customers—people whose lives will be meaningfully affected by smarter, more equitable access
• We are deliberately expanding our electrical design and test capabilities and adding to the ranks of our experienced team to achieve these goals
• We need dedicated engineers to burn down risk and improve reliability in our system like their life depends on it, because others’ lives do
• Electronics are where software meets the physical world, and so our electrical engineering team has a wide array of engineering skills and works with a variety of different teams
• We need people who are comfortable working in different domains, thrive when working on a problem as part of a small group, and are able to communicate technical concepts clearly to a wide variety of stakeholders—software and mechanical engineers, hardware test and manufacturing, and operations and field support, to name a few
• Our small team can get a lot done because our team members are strong individual contributors with a good grasp of electrical engineering fundamentals and the ability to define requirements for their systems, rapidly develop creative and simple solutions, and prove with testing that their work meets the rigors and edge-cases of real-world deployment
• You’ll have your own projects but we haven’t been saving an “intern project” - you’ll be a full member of our team, and like with our other engineers, we’ll work with you to find projects that align with your goals and interests and the team’s and company’s priorities
• Examples of previous projects for interns include:
• Prototyping new versions of our battery charging electronics to meet harsher environmental requirements in new countries where we’re launching our service
• Architecting ground support electronics to assist the air vehicle with take-off and landing
• Developing and deploying test equipment such as EOL’s for design validation and production
• Supporting design validation campaigns to ensure that our avionics products meet design and reliability requirements
• Root cause investigation for our products from test, flight, or field issues
• Our internships are full-time positions, in-person at our South San Francisco or Dallas office. We will host our Spring 2027 interns from January to April/May

• You’ve designed and tested a custom circuit board (it doesn’t need to have worked - we’d love to hear about it!)
• You’ve collaborated on the above two things as part of a group - school club, competition team, as part of a job/internship, or just with friends
• You’ve worked on a project in or out of school that moved under its own power (plane, car, boat, quadcopter, rocket, balloon, rocket on a balloon, submarine, rover, etc. - we’re not picky)
• Must have at least completed the second year of your Undergraduate studies. Masters and PhD students are also eligible
• Cloud Computing/Big Data Tools: Familiarity with cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) or big data tools (Spark, Hadoop) is helpful but not required
• Experience in Robotics/Automation: Prior exposure to robotics systems, automation, or sensor data (through coursework, projects, or clubs) is a plus
• Software Development: Exposure to object-oriented programming (e.g., C++ or Java) is a bonus