Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer

Candidate; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline in San Francisco seeks an experienced firmware engineer to own C++ firmware for a distributed drone system. You will collaborate with electrical, mechanical, embedded Linux, and systems engineers to turn hardware behavior and flight data into reliable software deployed on aircraft.

The role emphasizes real-time performance and observability for safety-critical field deployments. This hybrid role requires regular presence at our South San Francisco headquarters and offers career growth

Qualifications

• C++ for embedded or resource-constrained systems.
• Embedded communications interfaces such as Ethernet, serial, or other protocols.
• Real-time firmware design and debugging: scheduling, interrupts, concurrency, memory constraints.
• Experience deploying embedded systems and handling edge cases for safety and reliability.
• Systems mindset for debugging and narrowing down issues.
• Peripheral drivers based on schematics and datasheets.

Responsibilities

• Design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers.
• Develop reliable Ethernet, serial, and other microcontroller communication interfaces.
• Define platform-level interfaces and reusable firmware components for multiple subsystems.
• Own predictable and reliable performance of MCU systems and buses across startup, RT operation, fault handling and recovery.
• Optimize real-time behavior: CPU utilization, memory usage, scheduling latency, timing jitter, resource contention.
• Develop metrics, monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities for field deployment at scale.
• Develop Rust-based tooling and software-in-the-loop simulations to test firmware behavior.

Skills

C++ embedded

Embedded systems

Real-time firmware

Hardware interfacing

Rust tooling

Tools

Ethernet/Serial interfaces

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

Zipline aircraft depend on embedded firmware to execute critical flight and safety functions across a network of microcontrollers and embedded Linux computers. This software must perform reliably as aircraft move from manufacturing into delivery operations at field sites around the world, including locations that are difficult to access over a network.

You will own C++ firmware and supporting tools that are critical to the safety and operation of these systems. While making the system more observable and easier to diagnose at scale. Working alongside electrical, mechanical, embedded Linux, and systems engineers, you will turn hardware behavior and flight data into reliable, maintainable software for deployed aircraft.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers.
• Develop reliable Ethernet, serial, and other microcontroller communication interfaces.
• Define platform-level interfaces and reusable firmware components that support multiple aircraft subsystems.
• Own the predictable and reliable performance of our microcontroller systems and the communication buses that connect them, across startup, real-time operation, fault handling, and recovery.
• Optimize real-time behavior, including CPU utilization, memory usage, scheduling latency, timing jitter, and resource contention
• Develop metrics, monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to prepare the system for field deployment at scale
• Develop Rust-based tooling and software-in-the-loop simulations to test and validate firmware behavior.

What You’ll Bring

• Strong software engineering skills and production experience writing C++ for embedded or resource-constrained systems.
• Experience with embedded communications, such as Ethernet, serial interfaces, or other hardware communication protocols.
• Experience designing and debugging real-time firmware, including task scheduling, interrupts, concurrency, synchronization, and memory constraints.
• Experience building and maintaining real-world deployed embedded systems, and handling the long tail of edge cases to ensure consistent safety, reliability, and high performance
• A systems mindset and intuition for debugging; when anything could be wrong, you know how to narrow down the possibilities.
• Fluency in implementing peripheral drivers based on electrical schematics and datasheets, and debugging at this boundary in order to support prototype hardware evaluation
• Our team uses a hybrid in-office and distributed work environment, centered around our headquarters in South San Francisco, CA. You must be able to work from the office on a regular basis.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash ranges for this role is $160,000 - $250,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more. This position may be hired at one of three levels based on the candidate’s experience, skills, and demonstrated scope:

• Software Engineer II: $160,000 - $190,000
• Senior Software Engineer: $190,000 - $220,000
• Staff Software Engineer: $220,000 - $250,000

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.