Mechanical & Scaling Engineer, Droid

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

7d•$175,000 - $215,000•Onsite

About The Position

The droid is the delivery container at the heart of Zipline's delivery system. It detaches from the aircraft, descends 300 feet on a tether, and places orders on a driveway. This role focuses on designing and bringing to production the next generation of the droid, EV3. The engineer will drive subsystems from concept through production, owning the execution end-to-end. This includes managing test campaigns, setting up NPI and production lines at contract manufacturers, handling supplier communication, ECOs, and Jira queues. The role also involves modifying existing designs, partnering with cross-functional teams, driving first-article builds, and traveling to international suppliers and manufacturing partners. A key aspect is bringing the perspective of higher-volume production into design reviews to improve manufacturability and repairability.

Requirements

BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field.
5+ years of hands-on experience delivering physical products from design through production.
A track record of taking mechanical designs through the full NPI cycle (DVT, PVT, tooling release, first article, and ramp) on at least one product program.
Direct experience running or heavily contributing to test campaigns for mechanical or electromechanical hardware.
CAD fluency sufficient to make competent, drawing-ready changes to complex assemblies (Siemens NX preferred; strong Creo, CATIA, or SolidWorks experience is considered equivalent).
Comfortable with GD&T, tolerance analysis, and reading and marking up production drawings.
Practical, hands-on knowledge of manufacturing methods such as injection molding, thermoplastic and thermoset composites, EPP foam molding, stamping, and CNC machining.
Strong instincts for supplier engagement, including running FAI reviews, escalating issues cleanly, and building effective working relationships with contract manufacturers.
Willingness to travel internationally, sometimes on short notice.
Ownership mindset, treating program success as personal responsibility.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience at an automotive OEM, a drone or robotics company, a medical device company, or another high-mix / high-reliability hardware environment.
Experience setting up NPI or production lines at a Chinese, Malaysian, or Vietnamese contract manufacturer.
Test rig design experience (instrumentation, DAQ, fixture design for cyclic and environmental testing).
Familiarity with the electrical and firmware side of integrated products.
Prior experience owning ECO, PLM, or JIRA workflows for a hardware program of nontrivial complexity.

Responsibilities

Take droid subsystems from the design phase through DVT, PVT, tooling release, first-article, and full-rate production, owning the execution end-to-end.
Own test campaigns for the subsystems you drive, including writing test plans, coordinating fixtures, running campaigns, and driving root-cause analysis.
Stand up NPI and production lines at contract manufacturers, including process definition, work instructions, operator training, line balancing, and yield ramp.
Act as the point person for supplier communication, ECOs, deviation management, and Jira/issue-tracking hygiene.
Modify and improve existing designs based on testing, DFM, or production feedback, making competent, drawing-ready changes using CAD software.
Partner with design engineers, test engineers, TPMs, and cross-functional teams in supply chain, quality, and manufacturing engineering.
Drive first-article builds and pilot runs, being physically present on the line to identify and resolve issues.
Travel to suppliers and manufacturing partners internationally (China, Malaysia, Japan, Italy, Germany, and Vietnam).
Bring the perspective of higher-volume production into design reviews, influencing choices for better manufacturability and repairability at scale.