Head of Production Tooling & Equipment Design

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Lead Production Equipment & Tooling Design Engineer in South San Francisco to own the design and deployment of fixtures, workstations, tooling, and end‑of‑line test equipment for aircraft assembly and battery integration. The role is 75% individual contributor and 25% leadership, on‑site within a fast‑growing drone production environment.

You will drive uptime, FPY, and cycle‑time improvements, mentor a small engineering team, and coordinate with Design, Manufacturing,

Qualifications

• 5+ years designing production equipment and fixtures in high‑volume or fast‑ramping manufacturing environments.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.
• Demonstrated mastery of GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanism design, material selection, and failure‑mode thinking for tooling.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD; Siemens NX preferred (SolidWorks/Creo acceptable with NX learning).
• Hands‑on experience commissioning equipment on the factory floor; able to spend most weeks on‑site.
• Travel up to 15% for vendor or field site visits.

Responsibilities

• Own end‑to‑end delivery of production equipment and tooling projects for aircraft and electro‑mechanical subsystems: requirements, CAD, detailed drawings, vendor oversight, build, commissioning, and production release.
• Deliver measurable improvements: target >95% uptime, reduce cycle time by 20–40% per station, FPY improvement ≥10% in 6–12 months.
• Design and install alignment fixtures, press and torque tools, operator stations, poka‑yoke devices, fixtures, and automated EOL test rigs.
• Lead on‑line debugging and rapid root‑cause analysis during launches and ramp phases; occasional off‑hours commissioning.
• Mentor 1–4 tooling engineers/technicians; set priorities, approve releases, conduct design reviews.
• Coordinate cross‑functionally with Design Eng, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test Eng, and Field Ops.
• Manage vendor relationships: write RFQs, evaluate proposals, verify QC, perform acceptance testing.

Skills

Fixture design

Manufacturing tooling

GD&T expertise

3D CAD (NX)

On-site commissioning

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Siemens NX

SolidWorks/Creo

Job description

Zipline is seeking a Lead Production Equipment & Tooling Design Engineer in South San Francisco to own the design and deployment of fixtures, workstations, tooling, and end‑of‑line test equipment for aircraft assembly and battery integration. The role is 75% individual contributor and 25% leadership, on‑site within a fast‑growing drone production environment.

You will drive uptime, FPY, and cycle‑time improvements, mentor a small engineering team, and coordinate with Design, Manufacturing,