Senior/ Staff Mechanical Design Engineer, Motor

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

Bonuses & incentives

Job summary

Zipline is seeking an experienced Mechanical Engineer to own the mechanical design of high-performance motors for our autonomous aircraft. You will drive rotor-stator subassemblies, cooling systems, and enclosure interfaces while collaborating with electrical and systems teams to ensure robust integration across the propulsion platform.

You will apply FEA/CAE methods and hands-on prototyping to deliver production-ready components, lead DFMEA, and push design-for-manufacturing initiatives to

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (M.S. preferred)
• 5+ years designing mechanical components for electric machines or high-speed rotating equipment
• Proven ownership from concept to production of electromechanical products
• Expert CAD skills and production drawings ownership (NX/CATIA/Creo)
• Strong structural and thermal analysis fundamentals and hand calculations
• Experience with structural/thermal analysis tools (ANSYS/Nastran/Abaqus)
• Knowledge of GD& T and tolerance stack analysis
• DFMEA and risk-management familiarity
• Experience with design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly
• Experience with motor design workflows and electromagnetics principles

Responsibilities

• Deliver end-to-end mechanical design of motors and assemblies from requirements to production
• Design rotor-stator subassemblies, housings, cooling, controller enclosures, interfaces
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary engineers for aircraft-level integration
• Perform system-level FEA/CAE analyses and hand calculations
• Develop architectures meeting structural, thermal, vibration, waterproofing, reliability needs
• Create production-ready CAD assemblies, drawings, and GD&T tolerances
• Lead DFM/DFMA activities with internal teams and suppliers
• Support prototyping, supplier development, and production readiness
• Define durability and reliability test plans (load cycling, waterproofing, vibration)
• Lead cost-down efforts to improve manufacturability and scalability
• Create test fixtures and analyze failures for corrective actions
• Drive improvements through design iterations

Skills

Mechanical design

Electromechanical systems

CAD (NX/CATIA/Creo)

FEA/CAE

Thermal analysis

GD&T

DFMEA

Manufacturing & assembly

Motor design

Education

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering

M.S. preferred

Tools

NX

CATIA

Creo

ANSYS/Nastran/Abaqus

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 & The Role

Zipline builds autonomous delivery aircraft and ground systems that operate daily in varying field conditions. You will design hardware that directly impacts flight performance, fleet reliability, manufacturability, and our ability to scale autonomous delivery around the world.

The Powertrain Engineering team is responsible for delivering high-performance propulsion systems for Zipline’s next-generation autonomous aircraft. You will own the mechanical design, analysis, and integration of electric motors and related assemblies from concept through production, balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, thermal management, and mass efficiency.

You will lead the design of rotor-stator assemblies, housings, cooling systems, controller enclosures, and aircraft interfaces that must withstand demanding dynamic, thermal, and structural environments.

What You’ll Do

• Own end-to-end mechanical delivery of electric motors and related assemblies from requirements → concept → design → analysis → prototype → validation → release → production.
• Design rotor-stator subassemblies, motor housings, cooling solutions, controller enclosures, mounting interfaces, and other propulsion hardware.
• Collaborate with electromagnetic, structural, thermal, controls, firmware, power electronics, and systems engineers to ensure successful aircraft-level integration.
• Perform and support system-level FEA/CAE and engineering analyses, including rotor dynamics, propeller interactions, motor thermals and magnetics, mounting vibration loads, transient conditions, steady-state performance, and hand calculations.
• Develop mechanical architectures that meet aircraft performance, structural, thermal, vibration, shock, waterproofing, and reliability requirements.
• Create production-ready CAD assemblies, detailed drawings, GD&T, and tolerance stack-ups for motor components and assemblies.
• Lead design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly activities with internal teams, suppliers, and manufacturing partners.
• Support prototyping, supplier development, validation, and high-volume production readiness for motor hardware.
• Define and execute durability and reliability test plans, including load cycling, waterproofing, mechanical shock, vibration, and thermal testing.
• Design supporting test fixtures, analyze failures and test results, and drive corrective actions through design improvements.
• Lead cost-down efforts that improve manufacturability, reduce product cost, and enable production and operations scaling.

What You’ll Bring

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or a related field; M.S. preferred.
• 5+ years of experience designing mechanical components for electric machines, motors, or high-speed rotating equipment.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex electromechanical products through design, analysis, prototyping, validation, and production.
• Expert CAD skills and experience owning complex mechanical assemblies and production drawings. Experience with NX, CATIA, Creo, or equivalent.
• Strong engineering fundamentals, including structural and thermal FEA, heat transfer, materials selection, trade studies, tolerance analysis, and hand calculations.
• Experience with structural and thermal analysis tools such as ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated understanding of integrated cooling strategies for thermally constrained electromechanical systems.
• Familiarity with motor assembly processes, manufacturing Familiarity methods, and design guidelines.
• Experience planning and executing durability, environmental, vibration, shock, waterproofing, or reliability testing.
• Hands-on prototyping and test fixture development experience.
• Working knowledge of GD&T and tolerance stack analysis.
• Experience with design-for-manufacturing, design-for-assembly, DFMEA, and risk management frameworks.
• Familiarity with electromagnetic design principles and electric motor design workflows.
• Experience with high-torque-density or high-efficiency permanent-magnet synchronous motors.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs and collaborate across disciplines.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash range for this role is $160,000 - $240,000. 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.

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.