Hardware Reliability Engineer - Flight-Critical Electronics

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline in California is building autonomous aircraft and ground infrastructure. The Electrical Hardware Reliability Engineer will apply first‑principles thinking to identify and resolve failures in RF, digital, analog and power circuits, improving hardware lifetime and safety.

You will own reliability for critical electrical hardware such as powertrain, charging, de‑icing and sensor suites across aircraft and ground systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s in Electrical Engineering or related technical discipline.
• Strong foundation in hardware behavior and failure analysis from first principles.
• Hands‑on experience with safety‑critical electromechanical systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the reliability strategy for mission‑critical electronic subsystems using Design‑for‑Reliability and Physics‑of‑Failure.
• Decompose system reliability requirements into actionable design specs.
• Lead DFMEA with cross‑functional teams to identify risks and mitigation.
• Develop ALT and environmental test campaigns to validate long‑term hardware performance.
• Write test plans/procedures with clear pass/fail criteria.
• Lead root‑cause investigations from component to system level.
• Sign off on test results and assess hardware readiness for flight.
• Define operational life limits and service intervals using data and models.
• Advocate reliability across design, supply, quality, manufacturing and operations.

Skills

First principles reasoning

Reliability engineering

Electrical hardware know‑how

Technical communication

Education

BS/MS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

PCB layout tools

Job description

Zipline in California is building autonomous aircraft and ground infrastructure. The Electrical Hardware Reliability Engineer will apply first‑principles thinking to identify and resolve failures in RF, digital, analog and power circuits, improving hardware lifetime and safety.

You will own reliability for critical electrical hardware such as powertrain, charging, de‑icing and sensor suites across aircraft and ground systems.