Head of Flight Test Engineering

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline in South San Francisco is seeking an experienced Flight Test Engineering Lead to define validation strategy for new aircraft capabilities, software releases, hardware changes, and operations.

You will design and oversee flight test campaigns, develop automated test infrastructure and data pipelines, and lead cross-functional teams across software, electrical, mechanical, controls, autonomy, cloud, and regulatory domains to deliver release-ready evidence.

Qualifications

• 5+ years designing, developing, validating, or testing complex autonomous systems (UAS preferred).
• Experience leading flight test teams while remaining technically engaged.
• Experience turning test campaigns into planning, execution, analysis and release decisions.
• Systems‑level judgment across software, embedded, electrical, mechanical, controls, ops and regulatory constraints.
• Experience building test automation, analytics tooling, data pipelines, or scalable validation systems.
• Ability to lead cross‑functional programs and communicate safety, risk and tradeoffs to engineers and leadership.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally for flight testing and site support.

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and develop the Flight Test Engineering team.
• Own the validation strategy for new aircraft capabilities, software releases, hardware changes, delivery operations, docking and charging systems, fleet behavior, and regulatory concepts.
• Define campaign objectives, success criteria, risk posture, and go/no-go frameworks with multiple cross-functional teams.
• Build and oversee flight test campaigns that produce clear release-readiness evidence and expand coverage.
• Improve automated test infrastructure, data pipelines, anomaly detection, reporting, and correctness metrics.
• Choose validation modalities to focus flight testing on high-value learning.
• Partner with Flight Test Operations on site readiness and testing in new geographies and environments.

Skills

Flight test leadership

Autonomous systems

Test campaign planning

Test automation & data pipelines

Cross-functional collaboration

Safety & regulatory communication

Travel readiness

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.

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

Zipline builds autonomous delivery systems that move critical goods through real-world logistics networks. Flight test provides the evidence that aircraft, software, delivery operations, docking and charging systems, and fleet capabilities are ready for commercial operations.

What You'll Do

• Lead, grow, and develop the Flight Test Engineering team.
• Own the validation strategy for new aircraft capabilities, software releases, hardware changes, delivery operations, docking and charging systems, fleet behavior, and operational concepts.
• Define campaign objectives, success criteria, risk posture, and go/no-go frameworks with Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Autonomy, Cloud, Systems, Product, and Regulatory teams.
• Build and oversee flight test campaigns that produce clear release-readiness evidence and expand representative regression coverage across the end-to-end logistics system.
• Improve automated test infrastructure, data pipelines, anomaly detection, reporting, and correctness metrics to increase repeatability, test velocity, test capacity, and decision quality.
• Choose the appropriate validation modality—flight, simulation, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, or ground testing—to focus flight testing on the highest-value learning.
• Partner with Flight Test Operations on site readiness, execution processes, operational scalability, and support for testing in new geographies and environments.
• Foster a strong safety culture across Flight Test Engineering and Operations, ensuring compliance with regulations and internal standards.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years designing, developing, validating, or testing complex autonomous, robotic, aerospace, aviation, or safety-critical systems; UAS experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience leading flight test, system test, validation, or field test engineering teams while staying technically engaged.
• Experience taking complex test campaigns from objective definition through planning, execution, analysis, and release recommendation.
• Systems-level judgment across software, embedded, electrical, mechanical, controls, operations, and regulatory constraints.
• Experience building or integrating test automation, analytics tooling, data pipelines, or scalable validation systems that improve coverage and efficiency.
• Ability to lead cross-functional technical programs and communicate safety, risk, and engineering tradeoffs to engineers, operators, executives, and regulatory partners.
• Comfort working in field environments with operational teams and willingness to travel domestically and internationally for flight testing, team leadership, and test-site support.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash range for this role is $200,000-$260,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more. Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities. We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech.