Automation Engineer, Production Equipment

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

4h•$140,000 - $160,000•Onsite

About The Position

Zipline’s Manufacturing Engineering team delivers production systems that turn autonomous delivery aircraft and their subsystems into reliable, repeatable products at scale. The Automation Engineer, Production Equipment selects, integrates, deploys, and sustains production automation for aircraft assembly, battery integration, dock components, and flight-critical subsystems at Zipline’s Coop manufacturing site in South San Francisco. The role translates cycle-time, labor, quality, uptime, and maintainability needs into equipment requirements, coordinates internal and vendor builds, and brings equipment into stable production through acceptance, commissioning, operator training, and continuous improvement. This is a hands-on individual-contributor position with direct ownership of equipment design, build, commissioning, and improvement on the factory floor. Its work affects throughput, first-pass yield, assembly cycle time, and maintenance uptime for production lines supplying field operations and live delivery fleets, with consequences for fleet readiness and safety-critical performance. The position is site-based at the specified South San Francisco manufacturing facility, with regular on-site presence during standard manufacturing shifts, occasional off-hours commissioning, and up to 15% travel to vendor or field sites.

Requirements

At least 2 years designing production equipment, fixtures, or custom automation in a high-volume or fast-ramping manufacturing environment.
Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
Demonstrated mastery of GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanism design, material selection, and failure-mode thinking for assembly tooling.
Proficiency in 3D CAD; Siemens NX is preferred, with SolidWorks or Creo experience acceptable alongside strong intent to learn NX.
Hands-on factory-floor equipment commissioning experience, including fabrication support, build, debugging, testing, and operator training; willingness to spend most of the week on-site.
Practical knowledge of pneumatics, actuators, sensors, linear motion, machine guarding, and industrial electrical interfaces used in tooling and small automation.
Track record of delivering quantitative outcomes such as cycle time, uptime, first-pass yield, or cost per unit, and making trade-offs among throughput, reliability, and maintainability.
Ability to coordinate vendor builds and perform acceptance testing against technical drawings and QA criteria.
High ownership of safety and reliability, decisive technical judgment under schedule pressure, comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration, and willingness to escalate and resolve issues affecting fleet readiness.
Availability for regular on-site work during standard manufacturing shifts, occasional off-hours commissioning, and up to 15% travel to vendor or field sites.

Nice To Haves

5–7 years of relevant experience preferred.
Experience with aerospace, drones, medical devices, or safety-critical electromechanical products is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Evaluate automation opportunities against manual work content, cycle time, first-pass yield, uptime, and maintainability, and translate selected approaches into equipment requirements.
Integrate automation into existing assembly workflows, verify vendor-built systems against acceptance criteria, and train operators during production deployment and scale-up.
Own integration and deployment of production automation from requirements through vendor fabrication, build, commissioning, and production release; work with mechanical and controls partners on CAD, detailed drawings, and equipment interfaces.
Deliver measurable improvements, including tooling availability above 95%, manual assembly cycle-time reductions of 20–40% per station, and at least a 10% improvement in first-pass yield on targeted assemblies within the first 6–12 months of deployment.
Integrate and install automation incorporating alignment fixtures, press and torque tooling, ergonomic operator stations, poka-yoke devices, handling and transport fixtures, and automated end-of-line test rigs tied to build and test specifications for aircraft, battery packs, and docks.
Perform on-line debugging and rapid root-cause analysis during launches and ramp phases, including weekend or evening commissioning efforts during critical releases.
Develop and apply tooling design standards, GD&T practices, tolerance stacks, and material and process selections that meet safety and maintainability requirements for autonomous hardware.
Coordinate with Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test Engineering, and Field Operations to align tooling scope, test requirements, and production schedules.
Work with fabricators and vendors: write technical RFQs, evaluate proposals, verify vendor QC, and perform acceptance testing during builds and after installation.