Manager - System Test Engineering and Operations

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline in South San Francisco seeks a System Test lead to drive multi‑month campaigns for aircraft and major hardware under replicated flight conditions. You will hire, mentor, and develop test engineers and technicians while shaping the system‑test facility roadmap and campaign portfolio.

You’ll design test plans across vibration, wind, thermal, and ingress, deliver large‑scale test assets like wind tunnels and thermal chambers, and ensure disciplined handoffs to flight tests.

Qualifications

• Experience leading test engineers and technicians on hardware programs.
• Experience planning environmental, durability, and reliability campaigns.
• Strong hardware-debugging intuition and electrical troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to design or specify custom test equipment and facility infrastructure.
• Disciplined test processes and data capture are essential.

Responsibilities

• Own multi‑month system‑test campaigns that demonstrate aircraft and major hardware through replicated flight conditions.
• Hire, lead, and develop test engineers and technicians who build assets, execute campaigns, and diagnose hardware faults.
• Set the test‑facility roadmap, including equipment design, procurement, custom development, aerodynamic design, and thermal design.
• Architect test plans combining vibration, wind, rain, thermal, ingress, freeze‑thaw, lightning, and other environmental exposures.
• Deliver and upgrade large‑scale test assets, including full‑vehicle wind tunnels, walk‑in thermal chambers, high‑temperature/high‑humidity chambers, and test cells.
• Establish operating processes for simultaneous test legs and clean handoffs of tested hardware to flight‑test programs.
• Drive in‑house software tools for aircraft maintenance, cycle‑life counting, and test planning to improve campaign execution and decision quality.
• Be extremely adaptive to new hardware, new programs, and getting first‑of‑its‑kind hardware into testing.

Skills

Leadership

Test campaigns

Hardware debugging

Electrical troubleshooting

Test equipment design

Test planning

Adaptability

Problem solving

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.

About You And The Role

System Test is an ultra‑fast‑pace team responsible for path‑finding new hardware and delivering on environmental and durability campaigns for Zipline’s major hardware categories. The direct team is small and lightweight, and interacts with most departments at Zipline. You will lead a small special‑ops team of test engineers and technicians across environmental, durability, and replicated‑flight testing. You will own the system‑test facility roadmap and campaign portfolio, make trade‑offs on test capability and execution, and partner with hardware and flight‑test teams to turn findings into hardware‑release and reliability decisions. This team, and the rapid discovery of hardware faults, is core to the success of Zipline and the velocity of hardware development and deployment.

What You’ll Do

• Own multi‑month system‑test campaigns that demonstrate aircraft and major hardware through replicated flight conditions, extreme environments, and targets exceeding 20,000 cycles per aircraft.
• Hire, lead, and develop test engineers and technicians who build assets, execute campaigns, and diagnose hardware faults.
• Set the test‑facility roadmap, including equipment design, procurement, custom development, aerodynamic design, and thermal design.
• Architect test plans combining vibration, wind, rain, thermal, ingress, freeze‑thaw, lightning, and other environmental exposures.
• Deliver and upgrade large‑scale test assets, including full‑vehicle wind tunnels, walk‑in thermal chambers, high‑temperature/high‑humidity chambers, and monsoon ingress test cells.
• Establish operating processes for simultaneous test legs and clean handoffs of tested hardware to flight‑test programs.
• Drive in‑house software tools for aircraft maintenance, cycle‑life counting, and test planning to improve campaign execution and decision quality.
• Be extremely adaptive to new hardware, new programs, and getting first‑of‑its‑kind hardware into testing.

What You’ll Bring

• Demonstrated experience leading test engineers, equipment designers, and technicians for complex hardware programs.
• Experience planning and running environmental, durability, and reliability test campaigns that inform engineering decisions.
• Strong hardware‑debugging intuition and electrical troubleshooting skills for aircraft or similarly complex electromechanical systems.
• Ability to design, build, or specify custom test equipment and facility infrastructure for demanding test conditions.
• Sound judgment to prioritize test capability, campaign scope, and fault investigations across multiple hardware programs.
• Familiarity with disciplined test processes and software for hardware configuration, maintenance, data capture, and test planning.
• Adaptability when bringing new or first‑of‑its‑kind hardware into test while maintaining rigorous evidence and safe execution.
• Excellent ability to "get unstuck" and make progress in a complex and changing environment.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash for this role is $220,000 - $300,000. 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. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!