Embedded Software Engineer, Validation

Zipline • South San Francisco, CA

16h • $160,000 - $250,000

About The Position

Zipline is seeking an Embedded Software Engineer to build automated validation systems for the embedded platform that powers autonomous aircraft in safety-critical environments. The position is part of the Embedded Platform team, which develops foundational middleware and infrastructure for the flight software stack, including interprocess communication (IPC), logging and observability, communication bridges, over-the-air (OTA) software updates, and live telemetry between aircraft and cloud services.

The role focuses on software engineering for scalable validation infrastructure rather than manual testing. The engineer will design and build simulation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) infrastructure, and develop automated scenarios to verify platform functionality, performance, reliability, and fault tolerance before software reaches aircraft. The position works closely with software engineers across the Flight Software organization and may occasionally contribute improvements to production embedded software.

The role may be hired at one of three levels: Software Engineer II, Senior Software Engineer, or Staff Software Engineer. The starting cash range is $160,000–$250,000, depending on level and candidate qualifications. Compensation may also include equity, discretionary annual or performance bonuses, sales incentives, medical, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, and other benefits.

Requirements

• Experience developing embedded or systems software.
• Professional experience with Rust, Python, or similar programming languages.
• Experience working with embedded Linux systems.
• Strong understanding of systems-level concepts, including concurrency, networking, interprocess communication, and distributed or multi-process systems.
• Experience designing automated test frameworks or validation infrastructure.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across software and hardware boundaries.
• Ability to collaborate closely with software engineers to improve system quality and testability.

Nice To Haves

• Experience building Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) or simulation-based validation systems.
• Experience in safety-critical or high-reliability industries such as aerospace, automotive, robotics, industrial systems, or medical devices.
• Experience with autonomous systems or robotics.
• Experience validating distributed embedded systems.
• Familiarity with OTA update systems, observability platforms, or telemetry infrastructure.
• Experience with performance testing, stress testing, fault injection, or resilience testing.
• Experience building automated test orchestration, dashboards, and reporting systems.
• Familiarity with CI/CD systems for embedded software development.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain automated validation infrastructure for embedded platform software.
• Build simulation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test environments that exercise platform services under realistic operating conditions.
• Develop automated test scenarios for interprocess communication (IPC), logging and observability, communication bridges, OTA update systems, and live telemetry and cloud connectivity.
• Design tests that validate functionality, reliability, performance, and behavior under fault conditions.
• Develop stress, endurance, regression, and fault-injection test suites for distributed embedded systems.
• Partner with Embedded Platform engineers throughout the software development lifecycle to improve testability and define validation strategies during feature design.
• Build tooling for automated test orchestration, execution, reporting, and dashboards.
• Contribute to continuous integration pipelines and automated validation workflows.
• Investigate failures across simulation, HIL, and production environments to identify root causes.
• Occasionally improve production embedded software to increase reliability, observability, or testability.
• Increase simulation and HIL test coverage across the Embedded Platform stack.
• Identify reliability and performance issues before they reach flight hardware.
• Improve the observability and testability of core middleware in collaboration with platform engineers.
• Enable the Flight Software organization to move faster while maintaining the reliability expected of safety-critical systems.

Benefits

• Equity compensation may be included in the total compensation package.
• Discretionary annual or performance bonuses may be included in the total compensation package.
• Sales incentives may be included in the total compensation package.
• Medical insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• Paid time off.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed