Failure Analysis Engineer: Materials & Reliability Lead

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline, based in South San Francisco, seeks a Failure Analysis Engineer to own investigations of hardware failures, determine failure mechanisms, and generate evidence-backed conclusions that influence design and manufacturing. You will work across engineering and operations to preserve evidence and drive corrective actions.

You will partner with design, reliability, supplier quality, and test teams, use techniques like SEM/EDS, CT, FTIR, and mechanical testing, and ensure findings de-risk

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in Failure Analysis, Materials Science, Materials Engineering, or a related hardware engineering discipline.
• Demonstrated experience independently investigating hardware failures and developing defensible conclusions from physical evidence.
• Hands-on experience with multiple Failure Analysis and materials characterization techniques such as optical microscopy, SEM/EDS, metallography and cross-sectioning, CT/X-ray inspection, FTIR, hardness testing, mechanical testing, DSC,TGA, or similar analytical methods.
• Strong understanding of material failure mechanisms including fracture, fatigue, corrosion, wear, material degradation, manufacturing defects, and environmentally assisted failure.
• Deep expertise in Failure Analysis of at least one major class of engineering materials or hardware, with demonstrated ability to apply first-principles analytical reasoning across unfamiliar materials and failure mechanisms.
• Ability to design an investigation from first principles
• Experience developing laboratory methods, technical documentation, databases, or institutional Failure Analysis processes.
• Experience working with external analytical laboratories and suppliers
• Must-have traits: deep curiosity, clear owner mentality, disciplined evidence handling and documentation, strong technical judgment, comfort operating with incomplete information, and a bias toward finding the simplest investigation that can decisively answer the engineering question.
• Location: role is based in South San Francisco.
• Must be eligible to work in the US.

Responsibilities

• Lead evidence-based investigations of failures; determine the physical failure mechanism and establish confidence in the conclusion.
• Own Failure Analysis cases from intake through technical conclusion, including hardware handling, inspection strategy, test sequencing, laboratory execution, external lab coordination as needed, technical documentation, and communication of results.
• Preserve and develop physical evidence through inspection and analytical workflows including optical microscopy, SEM/EDS, CT, FTIR, cross-sectioning, metallography, mechanical testing, and related techniques with traceability.
• Identify mechanisms such as fatigue, overload, corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, embrittlement, wear, delamination, porosity, contamination, processing defects, coating failures.
• Build standardized Failure Analysis workflows, report formats, evidence-handling practices, confidence assessments, and failure-mechanism nomenclature across the company.
• Build and maintain a centralized, searchable body of Failure Analysis knowledge for cross-program use.
• Partner with design, manufacturing, reliability, supplier quality, test, systems, and operations teams to ensure findings influence standards and testing.
• Review proposed corrective actions and provide technical expertise to ensure they address the identified mechanism.
• Drive measurable outcomes in investigation quality, prevention of repeat failures, and de-risking by FA evidence.

Skills

Failure Analysis

Materials Science

Materials Engineering

Hardware engineering

Tools

Optical microscopy

SEM/EDS

CT/X-ray inspection

FTIR

Hardness testing

Mechanical testing

DSC/TGA

Job description

Zipline, based in South San Francisco, seeks a Failure Analysis Engineer to own investigations of hardware failures, determine failure mechanisms, and generate evidence-backed conclusions that influence design and manufacturing. You will work across engineering and operations to preserve evidence and drive corrective actions.

You will partner with design, reliability, supplier quality, and test teams, use techniques like SEM/EDS, CT, FTIR, and mechanical testing, and ensure findings de-risk