System Validation Intern: Flight-Test Automation & HIL

Zipline; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 67,000 - 89,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking an System Validation Intern at our South San Francisco office for a full-time, in-person internship Jan–Apr 2027. You will contribute to testing Zipline's Zip, Droid, and Dock systems, building automated pipelines and validating software in a simulated environment before flight tests.

Work with a multidisciplinary team to learn cutting-edge tools, write Python/Rust scripts, and gain hands-on experience solving real-world reliability and safety challenges in life-saving

Qualifications

• Experience with CI tools (GitHub Actions, Buildkite) and version control workflows.
• Familiarity with Linux environments and CLI tools.
• Able to write Rust or Python scripts to automate tasks or tests.
• Hands-on Python tests using Pytest or Unittest.
• Strong problem-solving, debugging, and triage skills.
• Ability to design and execute test plans for software and hardware systems.
• Must have completed second year of undergraduate studies.

Responsibilities

• Assist in executing HIL tests and flight tests validating Zipline systems.
• Build and refine automated testing pipelines in a simulated environment.
• Develop scripts and tools to support automated testing workflows.
• Troubleshoot hardware and software issues uncovered during testing.
• Collaborate with engineers across teams to improve system validation.
• Document results and contribute to system improvements.

Skills

Hardware-in-the-Loop testing

Automation scripting

Test planning

Root cause analysis

Troubleshooting

Team collaboration

Education

Undergraduate student – 2nd year

Tools

GitHub Actions

Buildkite

Git

Bazel

Jira

Python

Rust

Pytest

Unittest

Linux

Job description

Zipline is seeking an System Validation Intern at our South San Francisco office for a full-time, in-person internship Jan–Apr 2027. You will contribute to testing Zipline's Zip, Droid, and Dock systems, building automated pipelines and validating software in a simulated environment before flight tests.

Work with a multidisciplinary team to learn cutting-edge tools, write Python/Rust scripts, and gain hands-on experience solving real-world reliability and safety challenges in life-saving