Senior Software Engineer - Maps Platform

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is hiring for a Maps Platform Engineer to design, build, and operate the data pipelines powering flight intelligence. You will enable fast, accurate map data and reliable services across operator dashboards, routing, and autonomous systems.

The role blends backend, data engineering, and platform work with ownership of end‑to‑end data processing and system reliability. Proficiency with geospatial datasets and modern tooling is valued.

Qualifications

• Experience building and operating large-scale data pipelines.
• Track record shipping reliable services and APIs.
• Extreme ownership mindset with the ability to drive projects end‑to‑end.
• Experience working with large datasets and designing reliable data processing logic.
• Familiarity with data modeling, data quality, and validation in production systems.
• Comfort working with cross‑functional teams and integrating systems across domains.
• Strong backend or distributed systems engineering fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Own the foundation of flight intelligence. The systems you build directly power how aircraft understand and navigate the world.
• Massive data challenges. You’ll design pipelines that process and serve large‑scale geospatial datasets with strict requirements for accuracy, consistency, and availability.
• End‑to‑end ownership. From raw data ingestion to production services, you’ll build systems that are critical to real‑world operations.
• Cross‑functional impact. Your work will be used across autonomy, routing, simulation, and operations.
• AI‑accelerated engineering. We leverage modern AI and agentic workflows to increase engineering velocity while maintaining strong system rigor.

Skills

Large-scale data pipelines

Reliable services & APIs

End-to-end ownership

Large datasets

Data modeling & quality

Cross-functional collaboration

Backend/distributed systems

Geospatial systems knowledge

Tools

PostgreSQL/PostGIS

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.

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

We’re building the mapping infrastructure that powers every Zipline flight. Maps Platform engineers build the backbone that serves geographic data, features, and map‑driven services to Zipline’s products and operators.

You’ll make map data fast, accurate, and reliable for both human workflows (map editors, operator dashboards, regulatory UIs) and autonomous systems (routing, onboard systems). This role mixes backend, data, platform engineering and user interface design with pragmatic production ownership.

What You'll Do

• Own the foundation of flight intelligence. The systems you build directly power how aircraft understand and navigate the world.
• Massive data challenges. You’ll design pipelines that process and serve large‑scale geospatial datasets with strict requirements for accuracy, consistency, and availability.
• End‑to‑end ownership. From raw data ingestion to production services, you’ll build systems that are critical to real‑world operations.
• Cross‑functional impact. Your work will be used across autonomy, routing, simulation, and operations.
• AI‑accelerated engineering. We leverage modern AI and agentic workflows to increase engineering velocity while maintaining strong system rigor.

What You'll Bring

• Experience building and operating large-scale data pipelines
• A track record shipping reliable services and APIs
• Extreme ownership mindset with the ability to drive projects end‑to‑end
• Experience working with large datasets and designing reliable data processing logic
• Familiarity with data modeling, data quality, and validation in production systems
• Comfort working with cross‑functional teams and integrating systems across domains
• Strong backend or distributed systems engineering fundamentals

Experience with geospatial systems, mapping technologies, or GIS tooling is a plus, but not required.

Our current stack includes technologies such as Go, Python, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Kafka, and AWS, but we value engineers who can learn quickly and focus on solving the right problems.

We also lean heavily into AI‑assisted engineering workflows and expect engineers to use modern tools to amplify productivity while maintaining high standards for system design and data quality.

What Else You Need To Know

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.