Mechanical Design Engineer — Structures & Mechanisms

Socket.dev; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline designs, builds, tests, and operates autonomous delivery aircraft to scale service globally. As a Mechanical Engineer on Platform 2 Aircraft Structures & Mechanisms, you will own flight hardware impacting safety, reliability, and manufacturability across the full hardware life cycle.

You will work hands-on as a full‑stack mechanical engineer, collaborating daily with Production, Operations, and Test teams to drive design decisions, supplier engagement, and cost targets for rapid growth.

Qualifications

• Proven ownership of high‑performance mechanical hardware through development to field deployment.
• First principles approach with a test‑first mindset for environmental, vibration, fatigue, and thermal verification.
• Experience designing carbon composites, injection‑molded plastics, metallic structures, or servo‑actuated mechanisms.
• Strong mechanical fundamentals and collaboration with suppliers.
• Supplier/DFM experience reducing NPI cycles or defects.
• Clear written and verbal technical communication; able to present tradeoffs to stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of structural or mechanical subsystems.
• Produce system‑level trade studies, tolerance stacks, load paths, failure modes, and hand‑calcs.
• Create CAD assemblies, drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing documentation for complex assemblies.
• Lead supplier selection, qualification, and DFM feedback; manage inspection criteria.
• Cross‑functional interface with Systems, Software, Production, Test, Reliability, and Field Ops.
• Translate prototypes into scalable designs meeting cost, cycle time, and inspection targets.

Skills

Ownership of high performance hardware

Test-first mindset

Carbon composite structures

Supplier collaboration

DFM / NPI optimization

Technical communication

Tools

CAD

GD&T

Job description

Zipline designs, builds, tests, and operates autonomous delivery aircraft to scale service globally. As a Mechanical Engineer on Platform 2 Aircraft Structures & Mechanisms, you will own flight hardware impacting safety, reliability, and manufacturability across the full hardware life cycle.

You will work hands-on as a full‑stack mechanical engineer, collaborating daily with Production, Operations, and Test teams to drive design decisions, supplier engagement, and cost targets for rapid growth.