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. Join Zipline and help us make this a reality for billions of people.

About You and The Role

Do you relentlessly optimize for speed and scale in product design and get excited about owning development from concept to final integration for novel ground-breaking products at the forefront of mass production? Do you enjoy staying up the extra hours on the night shift to bring up tools in Asia to hit production milestones?  At Zipline our work is intended for the field. Patients are counting on it today--there is no time for aiming low or for coming up short. If leveraging your talent to drive creating elegantly engineered solutions excites you read on!

Zipline believes access to medical care should not depend on your GPS coordinates. We are at the forefront of a logistics revolution, using autonomous aircraft to deliver just-in-time, lifesaving medical supplies on 3 continents around the world right now, 7 days a week.  Are you interested in building a system that 200 million people will depend on with their lives?

What You'll Do

As a Senior Design Engineer, you are a technical leader working on critical systems for our flagship products supporting air vehicle systems which may include autonomy sensing hardware, vehicle mechanisms, propulsion systems, and structures. This is not your first rodeo scaling high volume products. You are a speed user and optimizer for iterating concepts in 3D/2D CAD and have a proven track record and core competencies that enable high volume manufacturing at scale with 99.9% yield. You achieve this through your knowledge of design for manufacturing, common tooling or process design constraints, quick concept prototyping, testing and down-selection. You will work closely with our electrical engineering team to optimize the integration of custom PCBAs, harnessing, and flex circuits. You will also work daily with our cross-functional partners in Supply Chain, Quality, NPI and Manufacturing to scale product build volumes internally and externally with our vendors. You will be viewed by the company as a walking encyclopedia of knowledge for reliable mechanism design and mechanical design best practices.

MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE / SKILL SETS

• 5+ years full-time product development experience with proven track record shipping hardware through 3-4 product life cycles - concept, prototype, validation, production
• Demonstrated CAD expertise in master and direct modelling where instantiating an idea, incorporating DfX feedback in 3D/2D, and managing a 50+ part BOM is 2nd nature
• You know how to prototype quickly and effectively, using these iterative cycles to down-select multiple concepts down to one in 1-2 weeks
• You apply GD&T to complex assemblies and understand how to design effective datum schemes at the onset for part assemblies for optimum cost/yield
• Experienced designing for high volume manufacturing processes with detailed understanding of tool features  - plastic injection molding, sheet metal, castings, and MIM
• Demonstrated experience utilizing FEA for validating structural part designs prior to tooling kick off
• Passion for elegant mechanical design at every level of detail - every part serves a purpose every gram of mass is accounted for
• Excellent communication - written, verbal, and visual. You know how to tailor to your audience with the right level of technical depth
• Prior experience working with Asia-based suppliers in high-volume mass production; Willing to travel as needed to bring up suppliers
• Must be willing to relocate to Bay Area working regularly out of Zipline HQ

NICE TO HAVE

• Tool design expertise - Your parts never have unwanted sink marks, knit lines, flash, or warpage because you know how to engineer it out before the tool is cut
• FEA expert - You know how to analyze non-linear, large displacement static loads and dynamic transient and random loads. You know how to analyze thermal load cases
• Working knowledge using electrical components & microcontrollers (ex. raspberry pi)
• Prior experience designing to aerospace or automotive level validation standards

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, 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.

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!

If you’d like to learn more about Zipline and our teams, feel free to check out our Instagram, one of our Reddit AMA’s, or our website!