Head of Flight Systems - Platform 1 (P1)

As Head of Flight Systems, you will lead the team responsible for everything that makes our long-range drone system platform operate, including the aircraft and ground systems  from avionics and power systems to mechanical design, embedded firmware, and manufacturing integration. You’ll own the reliability, performance, and manufacturability of Zipline’s long-range drone platform, ensuring it continues to meet the world’s most demanding operational and safety standards as we scale globally. This is a deeply technical, cross-disciplinary leadership role. You will bring together mechanical, electrical, and software engineers into one cohesive team, driving system-level trade-offs across design, manufacturing, and field performance. You’ll partner closely with Applications Software, Operations, and Manufacturing to ensure every aircraft we build and operate is safe, efficient, cost effective,  and easy to maintain at scale. If you’re a pragmatic systems thinker who thrives on productionizing complex electromechanical systems into reliable products that perform in the real world, this is your opportunity to shape the heart of Zipline’s technology.

• System Ownership & Architecture: Own the end-to-end architecture of the Flight Systems, integrating mechanical, electrical, and embedded components into a cohesive, safe, and scalable platform
• Reliability & Performance: Define and uphold standards for safety, robustness, and maintainability; drive validation and continuous improvement using field and test data.
• Design for Manufacture & Service: Partner with manufacturing and supply-chain teams to ensure designs meet cost, quality, and throughput goals while remaining serviceable in the field.
• Hands-On Leadership: Stay close to the engineering work: lead design and code reviews, root-cause analyses, and critical technical decisions.
• Team Development: Hire, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary team spanning mechanical, electrical, and software domains; build technical depth and leadership at every level.
• Cross-Functional Integration: Collaborate with Applications Software, Operations, Business and Regulatory teams to align interfaces, data, and certification efforts.
• Strategic Execution: Represent Flight Systems and engineering within the Platform 1 leadership team, providing clear visibility into progress, risks, and system-level trade-offs. Stay up-to-date with company priorities, risks, and major hurdles.

• Proven experience: 10+ years designing, building, and scaling complex electromechanical or aerospace systems, including 5+ years leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Depth across core disciplines: Expertise in at least two of: mechanical design, electrical/power systems, embedded firmware, systems integration, or reliability engineering; working fluency and extensive experience  across the rest.
• Systems thinking & architectural judgment: Ability to balance performance, cost, risk, and manufacturability; knows when to refactor versus stabilize.
• Operational rigor: Experience in DFM/DFA, verification & validation test campaigns, and scaling products from prototype through high volume production.
• Data-informed execution: Uses data and engineering expertise  together to prioritize improvements and accelerate learning.
• Cross-functional leadership: Strong collaborator across hardware, software, manufacturing, and operations; able to translate between technical and operational needs and collaborate with fellow leaders to drive company priorities.
• Team building & mentorship: Track record of hiring and developing high-performing, diverse teams with a culture of accountability and ownership.

This role is based out of our South San Francisco HQ with a minimum of 4 days a week in office. Must be eligible to work in the US and travel globally as needed.