Flight Test Engineer Intern — Autonomous Drone Validation

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Flight Test Engineering Intern to analyze flight test data logs and contribute to the design of new flight test campaigns. You will work with engineers across domains to validate autonomous systems, analyze performance trends, and help ensure mission‑critical robustness in a real-world, fast-growing environment.

The internship is full-time, in-person at our South San Francisco office, with potential relocation support and housing stipend.

Qualifications

• You must have completed the second year of your undergraduate studies in physics, mathematics, mechanical, aerospace, system engineering, computer science, electrical engineering or related fields.
• Strong mathematical and physics background.
• Experience in autonomous vehicle/ robotic system integration and testing work.
• Experience in data process, visualization.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Analyze flight test data logs using Python, SQL, and Databricks to identify anomalies and trends.
• Design, oversee, and review software validation and flight test campaigns to ensure features perform as intended.
• Daily monitor the develop branch to surface instability and potential issues.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (GNC, Aerodynamics, Structures, Systems Engineering) to meet system requirements.
• Develop novel test infrastructure and instrumentation to support flight testing and data collection.
• Maintain documentation, dashboards, and SQL queries to track test progress and efficiency.
• Support flight operations and potentially supervise flight activities with the operations team.

Job description

Zipline is seeking a Flight Test Engineering Intern to analyze flight test data logs and contribute to the design of new flight test campaigns. You will work with engineers across domains to validate autonomous systems, analyze performance trends, and help ensure mission‑critical robustness in a real-world, fast-growing environment.

The internship is full-time, in-person at our South San Francisco office, with potential relocation support and housing stipend.