RF Test Engineer — Avionics for Life-Saving Drones

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is hiring for an Avionics RF Test Engineer to own design validation and test planning for RF products used in our life‑saving drone system. You will coordinate with hardware, software, and test teams to ensure high‑quality test plans and campaigns from development through production.

You’ll build subject‑matter expertise on tested components, analyze data, triage field issues, and support certification testing to enable safe operation in real-world environments.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in RF engineering with testing, performance validation, and design verification.
• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering with RF focus.
• Experience testing sensors/electronics for critical systems.
• RF test asset design validation in high-volume production.
• Experience with Wi‑Fi, GNSS, ADS‑B, UWB, Radar or similar wireless protocols.
• Ability to design test plans, requirements, standards and criteria.
• Strong knowledge of communications fundamentals and signal processing.
• Proficient in Python, Linux environments, and scripting (bash/shell).
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills.
• Eligible to work in the US and able to work on site at Zipline South San Francisco.

Responsibilities

• Own design validation and test planning for RF products, including manufacturing test.
• Become SME on tested components, capturing behavior under varied conditions.
• Coordinate cross‑functional teams and vendors to deploy test plans.
• Drive end‑to‑end test campaigns from development to production.
• Triage field failures with data analysis and test campaigns.
• Support certification testing for safe real‑world flight.

Skills

RF engineering

Test planning

Data analysis

Python

Linux

Communication

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s in Electrical Engineering (RF focus)

Tools

Python

Linux

Bash/Shell

Job description

Zipline is hiring for an Avionics RF Test Engineer to own design validation and test planning for RF products used in our life‑saving drone system. You will coordinate with hardware, software, and test teams to ensure high‑quality test plans and campaigns from development through production.

You’ll build subject‑matter expertise on tested components, analyze data, triage field issues, and support certification testing to enable safe operation in real-world environments.