Senior Mechanical Engineer — Drone Delivery (SF On‑Site)

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Performance bonuses

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer in South San Francisco to own the mechanical architecture of key assemblies and guide them from concept through validation and production ramp. You will balance safety, reliability, manufacturability, and serviceability for unattended field-facing systems.

You will collaborate across Electrical, Software, Systems and Manufacturing, lead trade studies, and ensure high-volume, high-reliability hardware with rigorous GD&T and tolerance strategies.

Qualifications

• End-to-end ownership of electromechanical hardware from concept to field deployment.
• Experience with actuators, transmissions, bearings, seals and high‑cycle moving assemblies.
• Strong fundamentals in hand calculations, FEA, kinematics, bolted joints, materials and tolerance analysis.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end mechanical scope for Dropbox assemblies: requirements, architecture, CAD, drawings, specs, BOMs and production release.
• Define success metrics (MTBF, MTTR, yield) and drive design choices to meet them.
• Translate workflows and hazard analyses into mechanical requirements and verified designs.
• Lead trade studies and system-level decisions across safety, reliability, environmental performance, and cost.
• Create GD&T, datum strategy, alignment schemes and tolerance stack-ups for complex interfaces.
• Perform and apply first-principles analysis, hand calculations and FEA to validate designs.
• Prototype rapidly, run tests, and use data to down-select concepts and reduce risk.
• Mentor engineers and improve documentation and release discipline.

Skills

End-to-end ownership

Mechanism design

CAD proficiency

GD&T mastery

Prototyping and testing

Education

Mechanical Engineering degree

Tools

FEA

CAD (3D)

Job description

Zipline is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer in South San Francisco to own the mechanical architecture of key assemblies and guide them from concept through validation and production ramp. You will balance safety, reliability, manufacturability, and serviceability for unattended field-facing systems.

You will collaborate across Electrical, Software, Systems and Manufacturing, lead trade studies, and ensure high-volume, high-reliability hardware with rigorous GD&T and tolerance strategies.