Senior Staff Software Engineer

Wing; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 328,000 - 349,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Wing is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer to join our Ground Systems team in Palo Alto on a hybrid schedule. You will drive the vision for safe, automated airspace access and scale critical routing, policy enforcement, and pilot orchestration systems powering Wings drone delivery network.

You will mentor engineers, shape reliability practices, and lead the organization in technical excellence. Expect to influence strategic direction with data-driven analysis, collaborate across large

Qualifications

• 15+ years of professional experience in software engineering, SRE, and large-scale distributed systems.
• Deep understanding of reliability principles and incident response practices.
• Ability to drive strategic technical decisions across large teams.
• Proven educator/mentor with a passion for developing engineers.
• Strong communication and stakeholder influence across a large org.

Responsibilities

• Drive strategic initiatives and engineering standards to improve drone delivery network scalability and reliability.
• Collaborate with UTM teams to architect complex systems and debug critical issues.
• Define and evolve software engineering principles and reliability roadmaps.
• Mentor engineering leaders and build core curricula for technical teams.
• Lead post-incident reviews and implement long-term fixes to prevent recurrence.
• Provide data-driven input to inform strategic direction and investments, at executive level.
• Represent Wings technical excellence in recruiting, public outreach, and standards bodies.

Skills

Software Engineering

Site Reliability Engineering

Distributed Systems

Incident Management

Post-mortem Culture

SLO/SLI Development

Leadership / Mentoring

Data Analysis

Technical Communication

Job description

About Wing

Wing offers drone delivery as a safe, fast, and sustainable solution for last mile logistics. Consumer appetites for on-demand services are increasing, but current delivery methods are inefficient, costly, and contribute to road accidents and air pollution. Wings fleet of highly automated delivery drones can transport small packages directly from businesses to homes on-demand, in minutes. We design, build, and operate our aircraft, and offer drone delivery services on two continents. Our technology is designed to be easy to integrate into existing delivery and logistics networks, offering a scalable drone delivery solution for a broad range of businesses. Wing is a part of Google's parent company, Alphabet, and our mission is to create the preferred means of delivery for the planet. If you're ready to do the greatest work of your life, come join us.

About Wing

Wing offers drone delivery as a safe, fast, and sustainable solution for last mile logistics. Consumer appetites for on-demand services are increasing, but current delivery methods are inefficient, costly, and contribute to road accidents and air pollution. Wings fleet of highly automated delivery drones can transport small packages directly from businesses to homes on-demand, in minutes. We design, build, and operate our aircraft, and offer drone delivery services on two continents. Our technology is designed to be easy to integrate into existing delivery and logistics networks, offering a scalable drone delivery solution for a broad range of businesses. Wing is a part of Google's parent company, Alphabet, and our mission is to create the preferred means of delivery for the planet. If you're ready to do the greatest work of your life, come join us.

About the Role

Wing is looking for a Senior Staff Software Engineer to join our Ground Systems team. This role will be based in our Palo Alto office (hybrid). Your initial focus will be with our Uncrewed Air Traffic Management (UTM) team and platform. You will drive the vision for safe, compliant, and highly automated airspace access. In this high-impact role, you will design, build, and scale the critical routing, policy enforcement, and pilot orchestration systems powering Wings revolutionary last-mile drone delivery network.

Thriving on systemic complexity, you will leverage deep expertise in software architecture, distributed systems, big data, and production reliability to uncover unseen risks and optimize performance. As a trusted mentor and organizational influencer, you will champion engineering excellence, introduce right-sized rigor, and scale capabilities across the wider Wing engineering community - directly building the future of autonomous logistics.

What You’ll Do

• Drive strategic initiatives and engineering standards across Wings technology organization to enhance the scalability, reliability, and efficiency of the drone delivery network.
• Partner deeply with Uncrewed Air Traffic Management (UTM) teams to architect complex systems, evaluate design documents, and debug critical, systemic runtime issues.
• Analyze production systems and architecture to establish a clear technical vision, contributing to foundational Software Engineering Principles and reliability roadmaps.
• Mentor, upskill, and grow the capabilities of software engineering leaders, designing core curriculum and fostering a collaborative culture of continuous improvement.
• Lead post-incident reviews as a key technical escalation point for major outages, implementing long-term technical solutions to prevent future failures.
• Advocate for the engineering organization by leveraging data-driven insights to influence strategic direction and investments at the executive leadership level.
• Represent Wings technical excellence through active participation in industry recruiting, public outreach, conferences, and global standards organizations.

What You’ll Need

• 15+ years of professional experience, including significant work in Software Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), and building large-scale distributed systems.
• A deep and practical understanding of modern reliability principles, including incident management, post-mortem culture, SLO/SLI development.
• Demonstrated ability to drive strategic technical decisions across large teams
• Proven experience as an educator and mentor, with a passion for teaching and developing processes and technical curriculum for other engineers.
• High emotional intelligence and empathy to earn the trust of engineering teams
• Mature data analysis skills to make informed decisions on technical strategy and investment.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to earn trust and work horizontally across a large engineering organization to drive change.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is the salary range below + bonus + equity + benefits. Wings salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.

Salary Range: $328,000 USD - $349,000 USD

Wing is an equal opportunity employer and it is Wings policy to comply with all applicable national, state and local laws pertaining to nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. Employment at Wing is based solely on a person's merit and qualifications directly related to professional competence. Wing does not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), or any other basis protected by law.

If you have a need that requires accommodation during the interview process due to a disability or special need, please let us know by completing our Candidate Accommodations Request Form.