ABOUT ZIPLINE 

Do you want to change the world? Zipline uses drones to deliver critical and lifesaving medicine to thousands of hospitals serving millions of people in multiple countries. Our mission is to provide every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies. Today, Zipline delivers thousands of pounds of medical supplies every week, and our delivery flights laid end-to-end would stretch to the Moon and back twice a month. We are at the forefront of a logistics revolution, using autonomous aircraft to deliver just-in-time, lifesaving medical supplies. Join Zipline and help us make this a reality for billions of people!

Zipline’s aircraft are looking to fly a critical mission: to operate day and night and in all types of weather to deliver vital medical supplies to the people that need them. Do you want to put your aerodynamics and systems engineering skills to the test by helping lead Zipline to deliver more supplies to more people? 

When you prototype your flying machines, do you employ the right amount of overlap in product design, making and testing, analysis and classic theory coupled with bold new approaches in order to reduce the time to a viable product? Have you taught others how to do the same? Does your enthusiasm for solving aerodynamics problems catch on to others and accelerate their process?

You will be leading the aerodynamics team that owns aircraft configuration, performance analyses, aerodynamic analyses, propeller design, flight testing, aero model validation, and more. Zipline is looking for an experienced aerodynamicist who has been doing all these things and is ready to lead, or ideally has been leading, a group of dedicated aerodynamicists.

To succeed in this role you will require both the experience and skills to inform and influence stakeholders across the entire company and align your team to support that vision. Zipline will rely on you to be able to make informed trade studies and provide insight on what should be done when and where to make successful trade offs between time to solution, cost of design, and complexity of implementation. 

Finally, you have to love making things fly well and extracting the critical data required to inform your next design decision.

WHAT YOU'LL DO 

• Company-wide aero point of contact for design impacts and system trade studies
• Technical program management,resource allocation, planning, and tracking
• Personnel management of a team of dedicated aerodynamics engineers
• Individual contributor work where there are resource band gaps

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• System trades on a clean sheet design to prototype flight tests and through production
• Generating aerodynamic databases, low and high fidelity aerodynamic modeling with tools such as XFOIL, MSES, AVL, ASWING, XROTOR, BEMT, XFLR5, RCAS, and/or OpenVSP
• Wind tunnel test identification, planning, execution, troubleshooting, and data analysis
• Flight test planning for system identification and simulation validation, cross functional planning, test execution, and data analysis
• Continuum-or lattice boltzmann based computational fluid dynamics such as STAR-CCM+, Fluent, and/or PowerFLOW
• Aerodynamic model for simulation implementation, verification, and validation
• Familiarity with electric aircraft systems and drivetrain analysis
• Fixed wing design and performance analysis
• Rotorcraft design and performance analysis
• Aerostructural static loads and flutter analysis
• Autopilot control system design and analysis
• Aerodynamics analysis of prop/body interaction
• Full vehicle aerodynamics analysis
• Applied aeroacoustics design and validation
• CFR compliance
• Personnel management
• Technical program management
• Fully autonomous aircraft systems
• This is not an entry level position or junior level (

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW 

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!