Lead Mechanical Engineer, Production Equipment

Candidate; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer at its South San Francisco site to own mechanical equipment for aircraft assembly, battery integration, and docking subsystems. You will spend about 75% designing and building equipment and 25% leading people and programs on safety‑critical tooling.

You will mentor 1–4 tooling engineers, drive standards, coordinate deliveries, and ensure throughput, FPY, and uptime targets are met while collaborating with Design, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply

Qualifications

• 2+ years designing production equipment, fixtures, or custom automation in high‑volume manufacturing.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated mastery of GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanism design, material selection, and failure‑mode thinking for assembly tooling.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD; Siemens NX preferred (SolidWorks/Creo acceptable with NX learning).
• Hands‑on experience commissioning equipment on the factory floor: supporting fabrication, build, debug, test, and operator training; on-site work most of the week.
• Knowledge of pneumatics, actuators, sensors, linear motion, machine guarding, and industrial electrical interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical equipment design reviews and technical tradeoffs; establish tooling standards and coordinate priorities across equipment projects.
• Own end‑to‑end delivery of production equipment and tooling projects: requirements, CAD, vendor oversight, build, commissioning, production release.
• Deliver measurable improvements: tooling availability >95%, reduce assembly cycle time, FPY improvements within 6–12 months.
• Design and install alignment fixtures, torque tooling, ergonomic stations, poka‑yoke devices, and automated end‑of‑line test rigs.
• Lead on‑line debugging and rapid root‑cause analysis during launches and ramp phases; occasional off‑hours commissioning.
• Create and enforce tooling design standards, GD&T practices, tolerance stacks, material choices for safety and maintainability.
• Mentor 1–4 tooling engineers/technicians: set priorities, approve releases, recruit as needed.
• Coordinate cross‑functional with Design, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test, Field Ops to align tooling scope and schedules.
• Manage relationships with fabricators and vendors: RFQs, evaluate proposals, vendor QC, acceptance testing.

Skills

Production equipment design

GD&T

3D CAD

On-site commissioning

Vendor management

Team mentorship

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Equivalent practical experience

Tools

Siemens NX

SolidWorks/Creo

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 & the Role

Zipline’s Manufacturing Engineering team builds the production systems that turn autonomous delivery aircraft and subsystems into reliable, repeatable products at scale. Based at Coop, Zipline’s South San Francisco manufacturing site, you will own the mechanical equipment that enables aircraft assembly, battery integration, dock components, and flight‑critical subsystems.

You will stay hands‑on while leading technical direction: roughly 75% designing, building, commissioning, and improving equipment on the factory floor, and 25% people and program leadership: setting standards, coordinating delivery, and mentoring others. Your work directly affects throughput, first-pass yield, cycle time, equipment uptime, fleet readiness, and safety‑critical performance.

What You’ll Do

• Lead mechanical equipment design reviews and technical tradeoffs, establish consistent tooling standards, and coordinate priorities and release readiness across equipment projects.
• Own end‑to‑end delivery of production equipment and tooling projects for aircraft and electro‑mechanical subsystems: requirements, CAD (Siemens NX), detailed drawings, vendor fabrication oversight, build, commissioning, and production release.
• Deliver measurable improvements: increase tooling availability above 95%, reduce manual assembly cycle time by 20–40% per station, and improve first‑pass yield (FPY) on targeted assemblies by at least 10% within the first 6–12 months of deployment.
• Design and install alignment fixtures, press and torque tooling, ergonomic operator stations, poka‑yoke devices, handling/transport fixtures, and automated end‑of‑line test rigs tied to build and test specs for aircraft, battery packs, and docks.
• Lead on‑line debugging and rapid root‑cause analysis during launches and ramp phases; be prepared to run weekend or evening commissioning efforts during critical releases.
• Create and enforce tooling design standards, GD&T practices, tolerance stacks, and material/process selections that meet safety and maintainability requirements for autonomous hardware.
• Mentor and review work of 1–4 tooling engineers and technicians: set priorities, approve releases, run design reviews, and recruit/hire as required.
• Coordinate cross‑functionally with Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test Engineering, and Field Operations to align tooling scope, test requirements, and production schedules.
• Manage relationships with fabricators and vendors: write technical RFQs, evaluate proposals, verify vendor QC, and perform acceptance testing at build and after installation.

What You’ll Bring

• 2+ years designing production equipment, fixtures, or custom automation in a high‑volume or fast‑ramping manufacturing environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated mastery of GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanism design, material selection, and failure‑mode thinking for assembly tooling.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD; Siemens NX preferred (SolidWorks/Creo experience acceptable with strong NX learning intent).
• Hands‑on experience commissioning equipment on the factory floor: supporting fabrication, build, debug, test, and operator training; comfortable spending most of your week on‑site.
• Practical knowledge of pneumatics, actuators, sensors, linear motion, machine guarding, and industrial electrical interfaces used in tooling and small automation.
• Track record delivering quantitative outcomes (cycle time, uptime, FPY, cost per unit) and making trade‑offs between throughput, reliability, and maintainability.
• Ability to lead vendor builds and perform acceptance testing to technical drawings and QA criteria.
• Logistics: role is site‑based at Coop, Zipline’s South San Francisco manufacturing site; expect regular on‑site presence during standard manufacturing shifts, availability for occasional off‑hours commissioning, and up to 15% travel to vendor or field sites.
• Must‑have traits: high ownership of safety and reliability, decisive technical judgment under schedule pressure, comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration, and willingness to elevate and resolve issues that affect fleet readiness.

Nice to Have

• 5–7 years of relevant experience preferred.
• Experience with aerospace, drones, medical devices, or safety‑critical electro‑mechanical products is strongly preferred.

What Else You Need to Know

The starting cash range for this role is $150,000 - $180,000.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.

Voluntary Self‑Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.