Industrial Designer

leManoosh; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking an Industrial Designer to shape the physical user experience of Platform 2, turning complex constraints into understandable products. You will own design decisions from research through prototypes and detailed, manufacturable design, helping teams decide what to build and accelerating deployment.

You will interact with engineering, manufacturing, and product teams to integrate mechanical, material, and deployment constraints, delivering platform updates for real-world use.

Qualifications

• Portfolio demonstrating shipped or well-developed physical products and clear design reasoning.
• Strong three-dimensional design skills across form, layout, physical interfaces, and user interaction with CAD/rendering fluency.
• Experience designing for people with different needs and capabilities, with awareness of accessibility.

Responsibilities

• Own the physical design and UX for Platform 2 updates or new system elements, including form, layout, packaging, and mechanisms.
• Research customer and operator needs through observation, interviews, prototyping, and testing; translate findings into design decisions.
• Explore ambiguous problems, identify top risks, and define practical experiments or next steps.
• Communicate concepts through sketches, physical mockups, CAD, renderings, and narratives for cross-functional decisions.
• Partner with engineering, software, manufacturing, operations, and product teams to integrate constraints.
• Drive designs from early learning to manufacturable platform releases with thoughtful scope decisions.

Skills

Portfolio

3D design

Inclusive design

Judgment in ambiguity

Mechanical systems

Prototyping

Tools

CAD

Rendering

Job description

About You And The Role

Zipline’s New Products team creates the next generation of products across aircraft, robotics, infrastructure, operations, and customer experience.

The Opportunity

Zipline’s New Products team creates the next generation of products across aircraft, robotics, infrastructure, operations, and customer experience.

As an Industrial Designer, you will shape the physical user experience of Platform 2, turning complex mechanical, operational, and customer constraints into products people can understand and use.

You will own design decisions from research and early concepts through prototypes and detailed, manufacturable design. Your work will help teams choose what to build, reduce the risks that matter most, and deliver Platform 2 updates or new elements for real-world deployment.

What You’ll Do

• Own the physical design and user experience for Platform 2 updates or new system elements, including form and layout and influence interfaces, packaging, assembly, and mechanisms.
• Research customer and operator needs through observation, interviews, prototyping, and testing; translate findings into design decisions.
• Explore ambiguous problems, identify the largest user, technical, and deployment risks, and define practical experiments or next steps.
• Communicate concepts through sketches, physical mockups, CAD, renderings, and clear narratives that enable cross-functional decisions.
• Partner with engineering, software, manufacturing, operations, and product teams to integrate mechanical, material, assembly, and deployment constraints.
• Drive designs from early learning into validated, manufacturable platform releases; make thoughtful scope decisions that preserve user value and accelerate delivery.

What You’ll Bring

• A portfolio demonstrating shipped or well-developed physical products, clear design reasoning, and work across research, concept development, prototyping, and detailed design.
• Strong three-dimensional design skills across form, layout, physical interfaces, and user interaction, with sketching, CAD, rendering, and visual communication fluency.
• Experience designing for people with different needs, backgrounds, capabilities, and familiarity with new technology.
• Sound judgment in ambiguous situations, including the ability to ask incisive technical and non-technical questions and make decisions with incomplete information.
• Comfort working with complex mechanical or electromechanical systems and incorporating manufacturing, materials, packaging, and mechanism constraints.
• A hands-on approach to building and testing prototypes, appearance models, or functional mockups, with clear written, verbal, and visual communication.

Location

South San Francisco California