Flight-Test Maintenance Engineering Lead

Zipline; Esparto (CA); On-site; USD 97,000 - 146,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline in Esparto, CA seeks an Associate Maintenance Operations Engineering Lead to guide maintenance across Flight Test sites. You will drive readiness, asset availability, and modification execution while supporting evolving hardware and experimental fleet operations.

You will lead maintenance pilots, manage configuration-specific requests, and ensure scalability as test operations grow, partnering with flight test operators and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Experience in aviation maintenance or hardware operations in a dynamic test environment.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities under time pressure.
• Ability to lead and guide maintenance technicians and coordinate across teams.

Responsibilities

• Support day-to-day maintenance execution across Flight Test sites and prioritize work.
• Lead complex off-nominal maintenance and improve templates for tracking tasks.
• Own hardware modification processes including planning, execution, and documentation.
• Provide structured feedback to engineering and cross-functional teams to improve maintainability and processes.
• Coordinate fleet configuration changes and asset management across multiple test fleets.
• Ensure accurate maintenance records, modification documentation, and configuration tracking.
• Manage return-to-service pipelines, inspection status, backlog, and readiness for active test aircraft.
• Mentor technicians and support onboarding and development through Zipline Academy.
• Identify gaps in maintenance processes and help build scalable systems.

Skills

Aviation maintenance

Troubleshooting

Cross-functional collaboration

Shop floor leadership

Education

FAA A&P certification

Maintenance documentation knowledge

Job description

Zipline in Esparto, CA seeks an Associate Maintenance Operations Engineering Lead to guide maintenance across Flight Test sites. You will drive readiness, asset availability, and modification execution while supporting evolving hardware and experimental fleet operations.

You will lead maintenance pilots, manage configuration-specific requests, and ensure scalability as test operations grow, partnering with flight test operators and engineering teams.