Senior Hardware Recruiting Partner

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

3d•$135,000 - $180,000

About The Position

About Zipline Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About you and the role This is not a transactional recruiting role. We are looking for someone who understands that hiring world-class hardware talent requires deep partnership, technical curiosity, and strong talent instincts. You will serve as a trusted advisor to engineering leaders, hardware executives, and candidates helping define talent strategies, influence hiring decisions, and build teams that enable Zipline’s continued growth. The ideal candidate combines exceptional recruiting expertise with an understanding of complex technical organizations. You are energized by solving challenging talent problems, building relationships with hard-to-find candidates, and navigating competitive talent markets across robotics, aerospace, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, embedded systems, manufacturing, and operations. You thrive in environments where priorities move quickly and ambiguity is expected. You bring ownership, urgency, and creativity to every search and are motivated by the opportunity to help build one of the most impactful hardware and autonomy companies in the world.

Requirements

6+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with significant experience hiring technical talent in high-growth technology, aerospace, robotics, hardware, manufacturing, or engineering-driven environments.
Proven track record recruiting and closing exceptional hardware and engineering talent.
Experience partnering with senior engineering leaders and executives to build teams and execute hiring strategies.
Strong understanding of technical talent markets, including areas such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, embedded systems, robotics, autonomy, manufacturing, or aerospace.
Exceptional sourcing skills with the ability to identify and engage passive candidates in highly competitive talent markets.
Strong client management and stakeholder influence skills, with the ability to build trust, challenge assumptions, and drive alignment.
Ability to translate complex technical requirements into compelling candidate experiences.
Strong business judgment and the ability to connect recruiting strategy to broader company goals.
Excellent communication, organization, and project management skills.
Bias toward action, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Passion for building diverse technical teams and creating an outstanding candidate experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience recruiting for robotics, aerospace, autonomous systems, aviation, manufacturing, or hardware technology companies.
Experience hiring engineering leaders and highly specialized technical talent.
Familiarity with hardware development lifecycles, product development, or manufacturing environments.
Experience scaling technical teams in startup or high-growth environments.

Responsibilities

Serve as a strategic talent advisor to hardware executives, engineering leaders, and hiring managers, helping shape hiring strategies aligned with business priorities and technical roadmaps.
Own full-cycle recruiting across critical hardware functions, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, avionics, embedded systems, manufacturing, flight test, hardware operations, and technical leadership roles.
Develop and execute proactive sourcing strategies to identify and engage exceptional technical talent across competitive markets.
Build deep understanding of Zipline’s hardware platforms, engineering challenges, and organizational needs to effectively represent opportunities to candidates.
Partner with hiring teams to define role requirements, create effective interview strategies, calibrate evaluation standards, and improve hiring outcomes.
Leverage market intelligence, talent mapping, compensation insights, and recruiting data to influence hiring decisions and workforce planning.
Build and maintain high-quality talent pipelines for both immediate hiring needs and future organizational growth.
Deliver an exceptional candidate experience that reflects Zipline’s mission, values, and engineering culture.
Partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Hardware, Manufacturing, Operations, People, and Compensation teams to drive successful hiring outcomes.
Identify opportunities to improve recruiting processes, remove bottlenecks, and increase hiring velocity without compromising quality.
Contribute to the evolution of Zipline’s recruiting function by sharing best practices, mentoring teammates, and raising the bar for technical recruiting excellence.