Solder Engineering Technician, Powertrain

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking an Electronics Engineering Technician specializing in soldering and prototype assembly to build, modify, troubleshoot, and repair electronics enabling rapid development of Powertrain systems.

The role collaborates with electrical, mechanical, test, and manufacturing engineers to assemble prototypes, perform precise soldering, and iterate hardware throughout product development lifecycles.

Qualifications

• Experience building, modifying, or repairing electronic assemblies, PCBAs, wiring harnesses, or electromechanical systems appropriate to your experience level.
• Excellent hand soldering skills for SMT and through‑hole electronics.
• Experience performing electronic rework using soldering irons, hot‑air rework stations, microscopes, and precision rework equipment.
• Experience fabricating wiring harnesses including crimping, soldering, connector assembly, shielding, and cable management.
• Ability to read electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, mechanical drawings, and assembly documentation.
• Familiarity with test equipment and lab instrumentation (multimeters, oscilloscopes, hipot, etc.).
• IPC certifications such as IPC‑A‑610, J‑STD‑001, IPC/WHMA‑A‑620, or IPC‑7711/7721 are preferred, or willingness to obtain certification.
• Strong attention to detail with pride in producing clean, reliable, flight‑quality hardware.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Build, modify, troubleshoot, and repair prototype PCBAs supporting Powertrain development.
• Perform precision SMT and through‑hole soldering, component replacement, engineering rework, jumper wires, trace repair, and prototype modifications.
• Fabricate custom wiring harnesses including wire preparation, crimping, solder splices, connector assembly, shielding, strain relief, heat shrinking, labeling, and cable routing.
• Assemble electromechanical prototypes including PCBAs, harnesses, batteries, motor controllers, sensors, power electronics, and other engineering hardware.
• Read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, assembly drawings, ECOs, and BOMs.
• Inspect solder joints, crimps, connectors, and assemblies to high‑reliability workmanship standards.
• Perform continuity testing, insulation resistance testing, hipot testing, and basic functional verification.
• Support engineers during prototype bring‑up, debugging, root cause investigations, and rapid design iterations.
• Maintain soldering stations, microscopes, crimp tooling, harness equipment, and laboratory organization.
• Develop and improve assembly documentation, work instructions, fixture concepts, and SOPs.
• Support laboratory inventory, consumables, calibration, and prototype hardware tracking.
• Promote safe handling of ESD‑sensitive electronics, lithium batteries, and high‑voltage systems.

Skills

Hand soldering

Reading schematics

Troubleshooting

Attention to detail

Collaboration

Communication

Education

IPC certifications (preferred)

Tools

Multimeters

Oscilloscopes

HIPOT testers

Soldering irons

Hot-air rework stations

Microscopes

Job description

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 builds autonomous delivery aircraft and ground systems that operate daily in demanding field environments. Reliable flight hardware begins with exceptional prototype craftsmanship. As an Electronics Engineering Technician specializing in soldering and prototype assembly, you will build, modify, troubleshoot, and repair the electronics that enable rapid development of our Powertrain systems.

The Powertrain organization develops the batteries, motors, motor controllers, power electronics, power distribution systems, wiring harnesses, sensors, and electromechanical hardware that power every Zipline aircraft. You will partner closely with electrical, mechanical, test, and manufacturing engineers to assemble engineering prototypes, perform precision soldering and rework, fabricate custom wiring harnesses, and rapidly iterate hardware throughout the product development lifecycle.

This role is open to technicians at all levels. Responsibilities and ownership will grow with experience, from supporting engineering builds to becoming a subject matter expert in high‑reliability electronic assembly, prototype fabrication, and engineering laboratory support.

What You’ll Do

Support engineering programs from prototype build → assembly → inspection → troubleshooting → rework → validation support.

• Build, modify, troubleshoot, and repair prototype PCBAs supporting Powertrain development.
• Perform precision SMT and through‑hole soldering, component replacement, engineering rework, jumper wires, trace repair, and prototype modifications.
• Fabricate custom wiring harnesses including wire preparation, crimping, solder splices, connector assembly, shielding, strain relief, heat shrinking, labeling, and cable routing.
• Assemble electromechanical prototypes including PCBAs, harnesses, batteries, motor controllers, sensors, power electronics, and other engineering hardware.
• Read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, assembly drawings, engineering change orders (ECOs), and bills of materials.
• Inspect solder joints, crimps, connectors, and assemblies to high‑reliability workmanship standards while identifying defects and recommending improvements.
• Perform continuity testing, insulation resistance testing, hipot testing, and basic functional verification of engineering hardware.
• Support engineers during prototype bring‑up, debugging, root cause investigations, and rapid design iterations.
• Maintain soldering stations, microscopes, crimp tooling, harness equipment, and laboratory organization to support efficient engineering development.
• Develop and improve assembly documentation, work instructions, fixture concepts, and standard operating procedures.
• Support laboratory inventory, consumables, calibration, and prototype hardware tracking.
• Promote safe handling of ESD‑sensitive electronics, lithium batteries, and high‑voltage electrical systems.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience building, modifying, or repairing electronic assemblies, PCBAs, wiring harnesses, or electromechanical systems appropriate to your experience level.
• Excellent hand soldering skills for SMT and through‑hole electronics.
• Experience performing electronic rework using soldering irons, hot‑air rework stations, microscopes, and precision rework equipment.
• Experience fabricating high‑quality wiring harnesses including crimping, soldering, connector assembly, shielding, and cable management.
• Ability to read electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, mechanical drawings, and assembly documentation.
• Familiarity with multimeters, oscilloscopes, continuity testers, hipot equipment, power supplies, and other laboratory instrumentation.
• Strong understanding of ESD controls, high‑reliability electronic assembly practices, and prototype workmanship.
• IPC certifications such as IPC‑A‑610, J‑STD‑001, IPC/WHMA‑A‑620, or IPC‑7711/7721 are preferred, or willingness to obtain certification.
• Strong attention to detail with pride in producing clean, reliable, flight‑quality hardware.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary engineering teams.

What Else You Need To Know

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 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!