Firmware Engineer Intern (Spring 2027)

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 45,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking interns to work onsite in South San Francisco on embedded firmware for our drone systems. You will design and build C++ firmware for distributed onboard microcontrollers, develop reliable communication interfaces, and create platform‑level components.

You will collaborate with hardware, embedded Linux, and systems teams to translate hardware behavior into dependable software. The internship requires on-site work five days a week during Spring 2027, with rising seniors

Qualifications

• Interest in firmware and real-time systems.
• Prior internship or design team experience.
• Experience writing C or C++.
• Excellent grades in embedded systems courses.

Responsibilities

• Design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers.
• Develop reliable Ethernet, serial, and other interfaces.
• Define platform‑level interfaces and reusable firmware components.
• Own the performance of microcontroller systems across startup and recovery.
• Optimize real‑time behavior including latency and resource contention.
• Develop metrics and debugging capabilities for field deployment at scale.
• Develop Rust tooling and SIL simulations to test firmware.

Skills

C/C++ programming

Embedded systems

Internship experience

Tools

Rust

SIL simulations

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.

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 The Firmware Team

The firmware team owns the embedded firmware on all of our microcontroller systems on our aircraft and delivery system. We range from the application layer to the platform and foundation it’s built on. Including bootloaders, RTOS integration, serial and ethernet communication, up to battery management and motor control.

The Role

Zipline aircraft depend on embedded firmware to execute critical flight and safety functions across a network of microcontrollers and embedded Linux computers. This software must perform reliably as aircraft move from manufacturing into delivery operations at field sites around the world, including locations that are difficult to access over a network.

You will own C++ firmware and supporting tools that are critical to the safety and operation of these systems. While making the system more observable and easier to diagnose at scale. Working alongside electrical, mechanical, embedded Linux, and systems engineers, you will turn hardware behavior and flight data into reliable, maintainable software for deployed aircraft.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers.
• Develop reliable Ethernet, serial, and other microcontroller communication interfaces.
• Define platform‑level interfaces and reusable firmware components that support multiple aircraft subsystems.
• Own the predictable and reliable performance of our microcontroller systems and the communication buses that connect them, across startup, real‑time operation, fault handling, and recovery.
• Optimize real‑time behavior, including CPU utilization, memory usage, scheduling latency, timing jitter, and resource contention
• Develop metrics, monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to prepare the system for field deployment at scale
• Develop Rust‑based tooling and software‑in‑the‑loop simulations to test and validate firmware behavior.

What You’ll Bring

You are a person who:

• Is passionate about learning about firmware, realtime systems, Zipline’s aircraft and systems, and our mission.
• Has prior internship or design team experience.
• Has experience with writing C or C++.
• Has excellent grades in embedded systems classes.

It is expected that you will be onsite in South San Francisco 5 days / week for this internship. Rising seniors are preferred.

What Else You Should Know

Our internships are full‑time positions, in‑person at our South San Francisco. We will host our Spring 2027 interns from January to April/May

Candidates are limited to three (3) applications within a 30‑day period.

The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, and working location. The total compensation package for each role may also include: a housing stipend; overtime pay; relocation support; paid sick time; and more.

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.

Zipline is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your point of contact at Zipline know if you require any accommodations throughout your interview process.

Voluntary Self‑Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.