Senior Electrical Engineer - Long Range Platform

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

11h•Onsite

About The Position

Zipline is seeking an electrical engineer to join their long-range drone platform engineering team. This role involves designing and owning electrical subsystems end-to-end, from architecture development and schematic design through bring-up, validation, production, and field support. The engineer will work within an existing airborne architecture, making improvements and enabling new capabilities while maintaining the stability of a live production system. The role also involves developing hardware for the next-generation platform architecture, including designing electronics in areas such as Microprocessors, high-speed communication, GNSS, brushless DC motor drives, power supply, and batteries. Collaboration with firmware, mechanical, systems, manufacturing, and operations teams is essential to deliver hardware that balances practical constraints with elegant solutions. The position is based in Zipline's South San Francisco office.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field with a strong foundation in first principles engineering.
Minimum 4 years experience designing complex PCBAs, including: circuit analysis, schematic capture, PCB layout, packaging, integration, production, and board-level validation.
Experience with at least some of the following areas: Mixed signal design and high speed design, Lithium Ion battery pack design– BMS, safety, power distribution, etc., BLDC motor drives, Basic embedded communications busses (e.g. SPI, I2C, UART, CAN), Higher speed communications (e.g. Ethernet, LVDS).
Enthusiasm for working in a fast-paced, hands on, collaborative, cross-functional environment.
A desire to spend time in the engineering lab and experience with common lab equipment, such as an Oscilloscope, DMM, TDR, LCR, Network Analyzer, etc.
Clear communication skills and the ability to explain technical challenges to both fellow engineers and non-engineers alike.
Must be eligible to work in the US.
Must be able to work at Zipline’s South San Francisco office.

Responsibilities

Own the electrical design for volume production through a design cycle including requirements, prototype, schematic capture, layout, and validation.
Make impactful design decisions daily, while working with a high level of independence.
Lead trade studies, understand competing design priorities, and provide direction and clarity for burning down risk.
Collaborate cross-functionally with reliability, mechanical, embedded, and systems engineers in all stages of development, including: Concept (System requirement, specification), Design (Schematic capture, PCB layout, system integration), Validation (Function and reliability test), Production (DFM, design drawings, manufacturing, EOL test, certification), and Deployment (Troubleshoot field issues, develop rapid mitigations, roll learnings into future design revision).
Travel occasionally to support supplier and manufacturer visit, product deployment, and field validation.