Test Maintenance Engineering Lead

flyzipline; South San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking an exceptional Test Maintenance Engineering Lead (Senior Manager/Director level) to build and oversee a multi-state maintenance organization. You will bridge hardware test environments and commercial operations, leading by example with top technical depth and strong people management.

Your role focuses on designing scalable structures, promoting safety and quality, and proactively solving complex technical and process challenges to support Zipline's global logistics platform.

Qualifications

• 10-15+ years of progressive technical experience in aviation maintenance, test engineering, hardware operations, or aerospace manufacturing.
• 5-8+ years of direct people management experience guiding distributed teams across multiple states/sites.
• Hands-on technical depth to troubleshoot and execute maintenance tasks.

Responsibilities

• Build & scale the organization with a clear managerial hierarchy across multiple states/sites.
• Lead from the front, performing tasks and guiding technicians with hands-on leadership.
• Drive aviation-grade standards: safety, precision, and quality without sacrificing speed.
• Safeguard commercial success by catching and resolving technical challenges before they reach operations.
• Collaborate across Engineering, Quality, Operations, and Commercial teams to enable deployment.
• Foster a humble, continuous-improvement culture supporting ground technicians.

Skills

Maintenance leadership

Aviation maintenance

Test engineering

Hardware operations

Aerospace manufacturing

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, elevate, 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, elevate, 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.
• 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 &