Flight Test Engineer — Next-Gen Electric Aircraft

DoorDash USA

San Francisco (CA)

On-site

USD 159,800 - 235,000

Full time

14 days+
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Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan with employer matching
Paid parental leave
Wellness benefits
Commuter benefits match
Paid time off & paid sick leave

Job summary

DoorDash Labs in San Francisco is seeking a Flight Test Engineer to plan, execute, and analyze flight tests for next-gen delivery aircraft. You will bridge engineering and flight operations, owning test objectives, instrumentation, safety, and data quality across rapid test campaigns.

The role combines strong flight-test fundamentals with software skills and a safety-first mindset, with opportunities to develop automation and contribute to cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's or advanced degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or a related engineering discipline.
  • Strong foundation in flight test engineering, including test planning, instrumentation, flight test data reduction, and safe test execution.
  • Proficiency in Python and SQL for data analysis, tooling, and automation, with experience building reusable libraries or analysis frameworks.
  • Comfortable with Git-based version control and collaborative software development workflows.
  • Familiarity with C++ codebases - primarily reading and reviewing embedded or autonomy code - is a plus.
  • Experience with electric aircraft systems, including battery modeling, motor performance characterization, or electric propulsion integration, is highly valued.
  • Ability to support adjacent disciplines such as aerodynamics, GNC, or wind tunnel testing, contributing to a collaborative, cross-functional engineering environment.
  • Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to distill complex test data into actionable engineering insights.

Responsibilities

  • Plan, scope, and execute flight tests to evaluate vehicle performance, control behavior, and system reliability, ensuring results align with engineering and operational goals.
  • Act as the primary interface between engineering and flight test operations, translating technical requirements into test objectives and ensuring effective feedback loops from the field.
  • Analyze flight test data to assess vehicle dynamics, control performance, and subsystem interactions, providing actionable insights and recommendations to design and systems teams.
  • Develop and maintain Python- and SQL-based analysis tools for flight data visualization, trend detection, and performance assessment, supporting rapid iteration across test campaigns.
  • Use SIL and HIL environments to validate software updates, control algorithms, and sensor integrations to derisk flight test.
  • Identify and quantify failures, performance deviations, and reliability trends from test data to drive root cause analysis and continuous improvement.
  • Contribute to the creation of test plans, procedures, and reports, maintaining traceability to system-level and performance requirements.

Skills

Flight test planning
Data analysis
Python
SQL
Git
C++ familiarity
Electric aircraft systems
Cross-functional collaboration
Communication

Education

Bachelor's or advanced degree in Aerospace/Mechanical engineering

Tools

Embedded/autonomy code reading

Job description

DoorDash Labs in San Francisco is seeking a Flight Test Engineer to plan, execute, and analyze flight tests for next-gen delivery aircraft. You will bridge engineering and flight operations, owning test objectives, instrumentation, safety, and data quality across rapid test campaigns.

The role combines strong flight-test fundamentals with software skills and a safety-first mindset, with opportunities to develop automation and contribute to cross-functional teams.

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