Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

10d•Onsite

About The Position

As a Senior Manufacturing Engineer, you will turn complex electro-mechanical products into safe, reliable, repeatable production lines for Zipline’s aircraft, docks, and logistics hardware. You will own assigned final assembly and feeder sub-assembly lines from process definition and tooling through validation, production release, and sustainment. The role connects aerospace-quality manufacturing with reliable field operations and rapid production growth. You will help scale output from tens to thousands of units per week over the next 1–3 years while meeting safety and reliability expectations. The initial priority is to bring a complex electro-mechanical sub-assembly in-house and validate its production line within months. Regular on-site presence at Zipline manufacturing facilities is required. Rare travel between sites may be needed during ramp and sustainment, and nights or weekends may be needed to support critical production ramps or outages.

Requirements

7+ years of hands-on manufacturing engineering experience designing, building, and sustaining assembly lines for complex electro-mechanical products, with a track record of scaling volume by an order of magnitude.
A BS in Mechanical Engineering or a related field is required.
Practical mastery of PFMEA, control plans, SPC, capability analysis (Cp/Cpk), first-article processes, and production validation.
Experience designing and validating custom fixtures, jigs, and tooling, with proficiency in 3D CAD.
Experience with MES/ERP and statistical tools such as Minitab, JMP, or Excel to measure and improve yield and process capability.
Demonstrated cross-functional DFM decisions that balance cost, manufacturability, safety, and field reliability.
End-to-end project ownership with minimal oversight, including planning, budgeting, procurement, commissioning, and sustaining production lines.
A hands-on approach to manufacturing, careful attention to process details, clear communication of tradeoffs under schedule pressure, and a commitment to safety and quality.
Accountability for ramp milestones and agreed yield, throughput, and cost targets, with a structured approach to preventing production escapes and meeting release criteria.

Nice To Haves

An advanced degree.
Proficiency with Siemens NX.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end industrialization of assigned assembly lines and feeder sub-assemblies, from concept, tooling, and pilot builds through production release and sustainment.
Design, procure, fabricate, install, and commission fixtures, gauges, tooling, workstations, and ergonomic operator flows at Zipline manufacturing sites.
Define, execute, and sign off on process validation, including PFMEAs, control plans, capability studies (Cp/Cpk), first-article inspections, pilot builds, and production-release criteria.
Own first-pass yield, throughput, takt, mean time between failures, downtime, and cost-of-poor-quality metrics; drive improvements against quarterly targets.
Lead DFM reviews and tradeoffs with product design to reduce assembly time, simplify inspection, and lower cost per unit while meeting aerospace safety and field-reliability requirements.
Investigate escalated production issues and escapes, validate root causes, implement corrective and preventive actions, and update control plans to prevent recurrence.
Create, validate, and maintain SOPs, work instructions, control plans, and training materials; train and qualify technicians and line leads.
Coordinate execution with Design Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Maintenance, and Ops Program Management as the primary manufacturing owner for assigned product lines.
Plan capacity and production scaling against demand milestones, including layout, utilities, equipment, and staffing tradeoffs.
Support on-site production escalations, including occasional off-shift or weekend interventions during critical ramps or outages, and travel to manufacturing sites as required.
Deliver a validated pilot line for the assigned electro-mechanical assembly, with documented process controls and demonstrated Cp/Cpk targets.
Achieve first-pass yield and throughput targets established at project start and reduce key PFMEA failure modes by agreed percentages.
Meet the established production-release window and stabilize yield and throughput through cross-functional execution and sustained corrective actions.