Hardware Test Engineer, Droid

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline seeks a hands-on hardware test engineer to own the ground test strategy for the droid and its interaction with zipping point infrastructure. You will design, build, and deploy mechanical life‑test rigs, environmental fixtures, and automated bring‑up stations that prove system reliability at scale.

You’ll write Python automation, capture data, perform pass/fail evaluations, and drive campaigns from prototype validation through production end‑of‑line testing.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or related field; 3+ years hands-on electromechanical hardware or test software.
• Experience designing mechanical hardware in CAD (Siemens NX).
• Reading schematics, wiring fixtures, debugging with a scope, selecting sensors for tests.
• Real Python experience with test automation, data processing, or bench-top control software.
• Systems approach to problem solving across mechanics, electronics, firmware, or their interaction.
• Strong fabrication / prototyping instincts; comfortable in a machine shop and soldering station.
• Ability to discern real test signals from fixture issues.

Responsibilities

• Own the ground test strategy for the droid and its interaction with zipping point infrastructure - from pickup/drop-off mechanics to tether engagement and environmental exposure.
• Design, build, and deploy custom mechanical test fixtures and life-test rigs from concept to bring-up and long-duration operation.
• Develop electrical and instrumentation aspects of test systems: Load cells, thermocouples, encoders, current sensing, motor drivers, pneumatic actuators, DAQ, safety interlocks.
• Write Python automation for tests, including data logging, live health monitoring, pass/fail evaluation, and integration into the broader test framework.
• Drive test campaigns from early prototype validation through life testing and production end-of-line testing.
• Triage and root-cause failures across mechanical, electrical, and firmware domains with data-driven campaigns.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing engineers to improve reliability; push back on requirements when needed.
• Travel occasionally to suppliers and manufacturing partners to deploy test equipment and qualify processes.

Skills

Python scripting

Electrical/electromechanical hardware

Systems thinking

Fabrication & prototyping

Education

BS or MS in Mechanical Eng./Mechatronics/Robotics

Tools

Siemens NX

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.

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 You and The Role

The droid is the delivery container at the heart of our delivery system. It's what detaches from the aircraft on a tether, descends 300 feet, and places your order on a driveway, or picks up an order at a merchant's zipping point and returns to the aircraft. The interaction between the droid and the zipping point infrastructure is the most cycled, most reliability‑critical mechanical interface in our system.

We're designing EV3, the next generation of the droid and the next versions of our ground pickup stations. As we scale toward thousands of units in production and tens of thousands of flight cycles per unit, we need someone to own the ground testing that makes that scale credible - every fixture, life‑test rig, environmental chamber, and automated bring‑up station that proves the droid and zipping point work reliably together while exceeding our reliability targets.

You’ll join a small, deeply cross‑disciplinary hardware team building and testing our future systems end‑to‑end.

What You’ll Do

• Own the ground test strategy for the droid and its interaction with zipping point infrastructure - from pickup and drop‑off mechanics, to tether engagement, to environmental exposure of the mated system.
• Design, build, and deploy custom mechanical test fixtures and life‑test rigs, from concept through fabrication, bring‑up, and long‑duration operation
• Develop the electrical and instrumentation side of these test systems. Load cells, thermocouples, encoders, current sensing, motor drivers, pneumatic actuators, DAQ, safety interlocks, etc.
• Write the automation software that runs them - Python scripting, data logging, live health monitoring, automated pass/fail evaluation, integration into our broader hardware test framework.
• Drive test campaigns from early prototype validation through qualification, life testing, and production end‑of‑line testing.
• Triage and root‑cause failures across mechanical, electrical, and firmware domains, using data, test heritage, and one‑off targeted campaigns.
• Partner directly with the mechanical, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing engineers designing EV3 - pushing back on requirements when the physics doesn’t support them, and proposing changes when testing reveals opportunities to improve reliability.
• Travel occasionally to suppliers and manufacturing partners (China, Malaysia, Japan, Italy, Germany, Vietnam) to deploy test equipment, qualify processes, and support production ramps.

What You’ll Bring

• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field, with 3+ years of hands‑on experience delivering electromechanical hardware or test software.
• Demonstrated ability to design mechanical hardware in a CAD environment (we use Siemens NX).
• Comfort with the electrical side of test equipment - reading schematics, wiring up a fixture, debugging with a scope, selecting the right sensor for the job.
• Real Python experience. You’ve written test automation, data processing scripts, or bench‑top control software that other people relied on.
• A systems approach to problem solving: a knack for identifying whether a failure lives in mechanics, electronics, firmware, or their interaction, and diving deep into whichever domain the problem lives in.
• Strong fabrication and prototyping instincts - you’re comfortable in a machine shop, with hand tools, and at a soldering station.
• The judgment to know when a test is telling you something real vs. when the fixture itself is the problem.

Bonus points for any of the following:

• Experience with high‑cycle mechanical life testing, environmental chambers, or accelerated life test design
• Firmware experience (C, C++, Rust) on microcontrollers driving test equipment
• PCB design experience for custom fixtures or breakout boards (Altium, KiCad)
• Prior work in drone, robotics, automotive, medical device, or consumer electronics NPI
• Experience deploying test equipment to contract manufacturers and supporting production ramps

What Else You Need To Know

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal, or local law.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but aren’t sure you’re the perfect fit - please apply anyway.