Senior / Staff Rotor Dynamics Engineer

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

Job summary

Zipline in South San Francisco, CA is seeking a senior rotorcraft engineer to drive hardware and product design decisions for rotor and propeller systems. You will define loads, set requirements, and lead analysis-test cycles to keep our delivery aircraft safe, light, and scalable.

You will collaborate with structures, aerodynamics, GNC, and powertrain teams and mentor others while building practical, rigorous tools to accelerate design decisions in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of industry experience in rotor and vehicle structures.
• Experience developing loads for eVTOL vehicles.
• Expertise in helicopter/rotorcraft aeromechanics.
• Knowledge of rotor analysis codes: RCAS, CAMRAD II, FlightLab, Dyrobes Rotor.
• Experience with FEMAP/NASTRAN or Siemens Simcenter.
• Programming experience in Python and MATLAB.
• Clear owner mentality with rapid decision cadence.
• Location in South San Francisco, CA and US work eligibility.
• Travel to field sites and test ranges <10%

Responsibilities

• Own loads development for the propellers on Zipline’s aircraft.
• Perform dynamic analyses of aircraft propellers, including structural modes, forced harmonic vibration, and rotordynamics simulations.
• Define rotorcraft loads requirements that support flight performance and vehicle safety.
• Build finite element models of propellers and powertrain components for analyses.
• Collaborate with aerodynamics and mechanical teams to design high-performance blades.
• Drive rotorcraft configuration and performance decisions across hardware, software, and operations.
• Evaluate static strength and fatigue life of dynamic system components.
• Execute propeller and aircraft testing from start to finish in wind tunnels and labs.
• Mentor and build in-house tools and best practices for the team.

Skills

Rotorcraft analysis

Rotordynamics

FEMAP/NASTRAN

Simcenter

Python MATLAB

US work eligibility

eVTOL loads

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace/ME

Tools

RCAS

CAMRAD II

FlightLab

Dyrobes Rotor

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

In this role, you will use your rotordynamics expertise to drive hardware and product design decisions. You will be responsible for the development and definition of rotor and propeller load cases, including setting and upholding analysis requirements, processes, and standards. You will conduct rotordynamics 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 rotor system requirements and rotorcraft 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 development for the propellers on Zipline’s aircraft


• Perform dynamic analyses of aircraft propellers, including structural modes, forced harmonic vibration, and rotordynamics simulations


• Define rotorcraft loads requirements that support flight performance and vehicle safety


• Build finite element models of propellers and powertrain components for structural and loads analyses


• Work with the aerodynamics and mechanical engineering teams to design high performance propeller and rotor blades


• Collaborate across hardware, software, and vehicle operations to drive rotorcraft configuration and performance decisions


• Evaluate static strength and fatigue life of dynamic system components, including rotor assemblies, propeller blades, and motor shafts.


• Execute propeller and aircraft 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 rotor and vehicle structures. Preference for experience developing loads for eVTOL vehicles


• Expertise in helicopter/rotorcraft aeromechanics, including aerodynamics, dynamics, loads, stability, and performance


• Deep knowledge of RCAS, CAMRAD II, FlightLab, Dyrobes Rotor, or other comprehensive rotor analysis codes


• Experience with FEMAP/NASTRAN, Siemens Simcenter, or other finite element software


• 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.