Mechanical Engineering Manager

flyzipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Mechanical Engineering Manager for the Long Range Platform in South San Francisco. You will set the mechanical strategy, lead the team from architecture through production and field use, and ensure reliable, scalable hardware for real-world operations.

You will collaborate with Product, Systems, and Manufacturing to translate customer needs into robust system requirements and validated designs, driving safety, weight management, and cost efficiency at scale.

Responsibilities

• Build and develop an exceptional mechanical engineering team.
• Own mechanical engineering outcomes across the Long Range Platform.
• Guide mechanical architecture and design for aircraft structures, mechanisms, powertrain, batteries, avionics packaging, and ground systems.
• Translate customer and operator needs into product requirements, interfaces, and validation plans.
• Drive systems engineering across mechanical and platform interfaces and ensure safety analyses.
• Stay technically engaged through design reviews, analysis, prototyping, and testing.
• Lead tradeoffs across safety, weight, performance, and cost, keeping the team moving.
• Partner with Product, Electrical, Software, Systems, Integration, Test, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations.
• Move hardware from prototype to deployment and work with suppliers for production readiness.

Skills

Mechanical design

Systems engineering

People management

Roadmapping

Design reviews

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 and The Role

The Long Range Platform brings together aircraft, ground systems, software, manufacturing, and operations in one integrated product. We're looking for a Mechanical Engineering Manager to set mechanical engineering strategy for the platform and lead the team responsible for mechanical design, from early architecture through production and field use. This leader will connect customer and operator needs with platform strategy, shaping the aircraft and ground systems that make delivery more useful, reliable, and scalable.

This is a strategic player-coach role. You'll help define product direction and the multi-generation roadmap with Product, Systems, and platform leaders, turning customer problems, field performance, and operating constraints into clear priorities, requirements, and investment choices. You'll develop engineers and stay close to the work: reviewing designs, working through difficult tradeoffs, and helping the team resolve issues in build, test, and operation. The work spans safety-critical aircraft hardware and ground systems that need to perform reliably in demanding environments and be practical to build, inspect, and maintain at scale.

What You'll Do

Build and develop an exceptional mechanical engineering team. Set clear ownership and a high bar, give timely, direct feedback, and create an environment where strong engineers can do ambitious work and grow.

Own mechanical engineering outcomes across the Long Range Platform. Set strategy, priorities, and the multi-generation roadmap, balancing customer value, platform capability, technical risk, investment, staffing, and execution.

Guide mechanical architecture and design for aircraft structures, mechanisms, powertrain, batteries, avionics packaging, and ground systems.

Build a deep understanding of customer and operator needs through direct engagement, field observation, and operational feedback. Translate those needs into product requirements, mechanical interfaces, design choices, and validation plans.

Drive systems engineering across mechanical and platform interfaces: translate customer and operating needs into system-level requirements, lead safety and reliability analyses, and ensure integration, verification, and test plans demonstrate safe performance in real-world conditions.

Stay technically engaged through design reviews, analysis, prototyping, and testing. Bring the depth to make sound decisions, challenge assumptions, and help the team resolve its hardest problems.

Lead system-level tradeoffs across safety, weight, performance, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, cost, and schedule. Surface decisions early and keep the team moving through uncertainty.

Partner with Product, Electrical, Software, Systems, Integration, Test, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations to deliver hardware that works as part of the full system and meets customer needs in real operating conditions.

Hold a consistent bar for designs validated against real operating conditions, including vibration, thermal exposure, fatigue, wear, handling, and maintenance.

Move hardware from prototype through qualification, production ramp, and deployment. Remove blockers, make timely decisions, and close the loop on commitments.

Work with suppliers and manufacturing partners to improve quality, cost, manufacturability, and production readiness.

Take on diffic