Test Maintenance Engineering Lead

Socket.dev; Esparto (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 216,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline seeks a Test Maintenance Engineering Lead (Senior Manager/Director level) to build and oversee a multi-state maintenance organization, acting as the linchpin between hardware testing and commercial operations.

You will be a hands-on leader, defining structure for a distributed workforce while performing tasks alongside technicians, upholding safety and quality standards across the testing and deployment lifecycle.

Qualifications

• 10–15+ years of aviation maintenance or related experience.
• Senior leadership experience building distributed teams across states.
• Hands-on troubleshooting and mechanical expertise.
• Strong focus on safety, quality, and process improvement.

Responsibilities

• Design and scale a multi-state maintenance organization; set clear expectations.
• Lead from the front; perform tasks as needed to guide the team.
• Uphold aviation-grade safety, precision, and quality with speed.
• Proactively identify and resolve technical and process gaps before affecting the product.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Quality, Operations, and Commercial teams.
• Foster a humble, ego-free culture centered on continuous improvement.

Skills

Aviation maintenance

Test engineering

Leadership

Root cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

A&P license

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.

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

We are searching for an exceptional Test Maintenance Engineering Lead (Senior Manager/Director level) to build and oversee an elite, multi-state organization of maintenance technicians. In this highly critical role, you will be the linchpin between our hardware testing environments and our commercial operations.

You are, fundamentally, a strong people manager and a hands-on technical leader. You will define the correct managerial structure for a distributed workforce while remaining perfectly willing and capable of leading from the front - performing any task you ask of your technicians. Grounded in humility and professionalism, you will drive a culture of extreme accountability and rigorous standards representative of the highest echelons of aircraft maintenance. Your ultimate mission is to safeguard our commercial success: your team must proactively catch, escape, and resolve technical and systematic challenges so that no process or quality gaps ever make it to the commercial organization, requiring them to ask for clarification or rework. To do this you will partner closely with engineering teams across all disciplines.

What You'll Do

• Build & Scale the Organization: Design the correct managerial hierarchy, hire, and build a world-class maintenance engineering organization composed of skilled technicians across multiple states and sites. Set crystal-clear expectations and drive accountability at every level.
• Lead from the Front: Act as a hands-on technical leader. You must be highly capable and willing to jump in and perform any task that is asked of your technicians, leading by example with deep technical competence.
• Drive Aviation-Grade Standards: Hold yourself and your entire team to the absolute highest standard, representative of rigorous aircraft maintenance. Instill a culture of safety, precision, and unwavering quality without sacrificing speed and agility.
• Safeguard Commercial Success: Drive the team to proactively catch, escape, and help resolve various technical and systematic challenges before they move downstream. Your success is directly determined by preventing process and quality gaps from making it to the commercial organization. Doing this will be dependent on you and every member of your team understanding deeply the operating reality of the product outside of the test environment.
• Collaborate Cross-functionally: Work seamlessly across Engineering, Quality, Operations, and Commercial teams with the utmost professionalism, bridging the gap between testing phases and real-world commercial deployment. You will partner with, and hold accountable, these teams to ensure success is earned.
• Lead with Humility: Foster a humble, ego-free team culture centered on continuous improvement, active listening, and dedicated support for your technicians on the ground.

What You'll Bring

• Extensive Industry Experience: 10-15+ years of progressive technical experience in aviation maintenance, test engineering, hardware operations, or aerospace manufacturing.
• Senior Leadership & Scale: 5-8+ years of direct people management experience. You have a proven track record of designing organizational structures and scaling distributed teams of technicians across multiple states and sites.
• Hands-on Technical Prowess: You possess the technical depth to troubleshoot and execute maintenance tasks firsthand. An Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) license, equivalent military aviation experience, or an aerospace engineering degree combined with hands-on mechanical experience is highly preferred.
• Process & Quality Obsession: Deep expertise in root cause analysis, defect containment, and process engineering. You have a history of building systems that definitively prevent downstream operational escapes.
• Cross-Functional Professionalism: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to navigate complex organizational dynamics, build consensus, and interface professionally with both highly technical engineering teams and commercial leaders.
• Humble Mindset: An ego-free approach to leadership. You are as comfortable turning a wrench on the shop floor as you are presenting strategic organizational plans to the executive team.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting salary for this role is $150,000 - $216,000. 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.

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.