Sr. to Staff Mechanical Engineer - Delivery Drone Parachute Systems

Skyrocket Ventures; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology recruiting firm is hiring a Sr. to Staff Mechanical Engineer specializing in delivery drone parachute systems. Located in San Francisco, this role involves designing, testing, and developing reliable parachute recovery systems for UAVs in a fast-paced environment. Ideal candidates will hold a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and have experience with safety-critical hardware and parachute systems. The salary range is competitive, targeting $200k-$250k, with total compensation potentially reaching $500k.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering is required.
• Experience with parachute or textile recovery systems is crucial.
• Familiarity with ASTM standards related to parachute safety systems needed.

Responsibilities

• Designing and developing parachute systems for UAVs.
• Conducting tests to validate performance and reliability.
• Collaborating with systems engineering for integration.

Skills

Designing parachute recovery systems

Prototyping

Failure analysis

Reliability engineering

CAD skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Sr. to Staff Mechanical Engineer - Delivery Drone Parachute Systems

San Francisco, CA (you can work from home up to 2x/week)

The team builds small, lightweight autonomous delivery drones with safety-first hardware designed to operate around people and everyday urban infrastructure. The work has a positive impact on the sustainability, access, and cost of everyday necessities.

You would be joining an elite group of about 60 people and 20 engineers inside a much larger public company. This org operates as a small, fast-moving hardware innovation lab: minimal bureaucracy, real build/test cycles, and ownership of systems that ship and operate at a very large scale.

The company is targeting a salary range of $200-250k (more is possible for principal level candidates), plus RSUs translating into total first year compensation of roughly $300-500k.

Job Responsibilities

• Designing and developing parachute-based recovery systems for lightweight UAV platforms, with ownership from early architecture through validation.
• Engineering deployment architectures, mechanisms, tethers, textile components, and energy‑management features for predictable, reliable deployment.
• Analyzing structural loads and deployment dynamics, and conducting testing to validate performance and reliability under real‑world conditions.
• Planning and executing ground and flight tests in compliance with applicable ASTM parachute standards.
• Identifying failure modes in safety‑critical hardware and driving corrective design improvements.
• Creating and refining CAD models, prototypes, and test articles through iterative build–test cycles.
• Collaborating with systems and test engineering to refine requirements, integration, and certification strategy.
• Ensuring designs are manufacturable, inspectable, and repeatable for production.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree in Mechanical engineering.
• Experience designing or testing parachute or textile-based recovery systems.
• Familiarity with ASTM standards related to parachute safety systems.
• Experience working on safety‑critical hardware.
• Strong CAD skills for packaged mechanical assemblies.
• Hands‑on experience with prototyping and physical test programs.
• Understanding of failure analysis and reliability engineering.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, prototype‑centric environment.

Other Keywords

• ASTM F3322 parachute recovery systems
• flight‑critical UAV safety hardware
• energy absorption and textile integration

Skyrocket Ventures is a recruiting firm for hundreds of high growth technology companies. This opportunity is with one of our client companies for a full‑time permanent hire. Please only apply if you are authorized to work in the U.S.