Senior / Staff Loads and Dynamics Engineer

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline, based in South San Francisco, is seeking a seasoned loads and dynamics engineer to drive hardware and product design decisions for its delivery aircraft. You’ll develop vehicle load cases, set analysis requirements, and lead analysis-test loops to keep vehicles safe, light, and scalable.

You’ll collaborate with structures, aerodynamics, GNC, systems, and powertrain teams, perform FE modeling and dynamic testing, and mentor others while building in-house tools and processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in design and analysis of aircraft structures.
• Expertise in aircraft loads analysis and structural dynamics.

Responsibilities

• Own loads and dynamics analysis for Zipline’s aircraft.
• Perform dynamic analyses of aircraft components, including structural modes, random vibration, and forced harmonic vibration.
• Define program loads requirements that support flight performance and vehicle safety.
• Build finite element models for structural and loads analyses.
• Build and run multi-body simulations assessing the dynamics of everything from nominal flight through to parachute deployment.
• Collaborate across hardware, software, and vehicle operations to drive aircraft configuration and performance decisions.
• Evaluate static strength and fatigue life of aircraft structures using classical hand calculations and finite element analysis.
• Execute dynamic testing from start-to-finish including pre-test analysis, instrumentation, testing, data analysis, signal processing and model correlation.
• Level-up the engineering organization by providing mentorship, guidance, best practices, and building standardized in-house tools and processes.

Skills

Loads analysis

Structural dynamics

Python

MATLAB

Hardware intuition

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering

Tools

FEMAP

NASTRAN

Siemens Simcenter

Zona

ZAERO

RCAS

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

In this role, you will use your loads and dynamics expertise to drive hardware and product design decisions. You will be responsible for the development and definition of vehicle load cases, including setting and upholding analysis requirements, processes, and standards. You will apply first‑principles analyses and lead tight design‑test‑analysis loops to keep our delivery aircraft safe, light, and scalable. This role works closely with structures, aerodynamics, GNC, systems, and powertrain engineers to drive system level requirements and vehicle configuration decisions to achieve product level outcomes.

How to know if it's you: Pencil and paper calculations are always your first step, you prefer simple and fast over detailed and large, and you’re excited to get hands on with hardware. On any given day you could be driving design trade studies, supporting flight tests to validate analysis, or working across disciplines to tackle complex system level challenges.

Zipline was founded by engineers dedicated to making the world a better place. We are building a new global industry and are looking for a talented engineer who takes a hands‑on approach and will use analysis to drive design. The ideal candidate will be someone who excels in a fast paced, dynamic environment and is excited to own and drive simple, elegant solutions to complex problems.

What You'll Do

• Own loads and dynamics analysis for Zipline’s aircraft
• Perform dynamic analyses of aircraft components, including structural modes, random vibration, and forced harmonic vibration
• Define program loads requirements that support flight performance and vehicle safety
• Build finite element models for structural and loads analyses
• Build and run multi-body simulations assessing the dynamics of everything from nominal flight through to parachute deployment
• Collaborate across hardware, software, and vehicle operations to drive aircraft configuration and performance decisions
• Evaluate static strength and fatigue life of aircraft structures using classical hand calculations and finite element analysis
• Execute dynamic testing from start-to-finish including pre-test analysis, instrumentation, testing, data analysis, signal processing and model correlation. Success will require a hands on approach and quality time in wind tunnels, the vibration test lab, and on the flight line
• Level-up the engineering organization by providing mentorship, guidance, best practices, and building standardized in-house tools and processes

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, or related field
• 7+ years of industry experience in design and analysis of aircraft structures
• Expertise in aircraft loads analysis and structural dynamics
• Deep knowledge of FEMAP/NASTRAN, Siemens Simcenter, or other finite element software
• Experience with Zona, ZAERO, RCAS, NASTRAN SOL144, or other loads analysis tools
• Analytical/scientific programming experience (Python, MATLAB)
• Must-have traits: clear owner mentality with rapid decision cadence, tolerance for ambiguity and shifting configurations, disciplined documentation habits, and excellent hardware intuition
• Location: role is based in South San Francisco, CA
• Travel to field sites and test ranges is typically <10% depending on program phase
• Must be eligible to work in the US

What Else You Need To Know

The starting salary range for this role is $150,000 - $215,000. 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.