Senior / Staff Mechanical Design Engineer

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

About The Position

Zipline builds autonomous delivery aircraft and ground systems that operate daily in varying field conditions. You will own hardware that directly impacts flight safety, fleet reliability, manufacturability, and our ability to scale autonomous delivery around the world. The Battery & Power Electronics team is responsible for delivering power throughout the aircraft—including batteries, power distribution systems, busbars, and power connectors. You will lead the mechanical design of these systems from concept through production, balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost while partnering closely with cross-functional engineering teams. Senior and Staff levels differ by scope. Senior Engineers own complex subsystems or end-to-end features within a program. Staff Engineers define technical direction across multiple programs, establish engineering standards, and lead cross-functional initiatives and strategic supplier partnerships.

Requirements

5–15+ years of mechanical or electromechanical product development experience delivering complex hardware from concept through NPI and production (experience level used to determine Senior vs. Staff).
Demonstrated ownership of multiple electro-mechanical products through design, validation, manufacturing, and supplier transfer.
Expert CAD and documentation skills, including ownership of complex 3D assemblies and production drawings for 20–100+ part systems. Experience with NX, SolidWorks, or equivalent.
Strong engineering fundamentals including GD&T, tolerance analysis, hand calculations (beam bending, buckling, bolted joints), FEA, thermal analysis, and design-for-manufacturing and assembly.
Experience planning and executing environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, and reliability testing, with the ability to design test fixtures and interpret results.
Demonstrated supplier development and DFM experience, with a track record of reducing NPI cycle time, manufacturing defects, or supplier quality issues.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present technical tradeoffs, influence stakeholders, and make sound engineering decisions under uncertainty.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end delivery of mechanical hardware from requirements → design → analysis → prototype → validation → release → production sustainment.
Design battery enclosures, power electronics housings, busbars, and power distribution hardware that meet structural, thermal, EMI, cost, mass, and manufacturability requirements.
Develop mechanical architectures that satisfy vibration, shock, thermal, overpressure, ingress protection, and safety requirements for flight-critical systems.
Produce and defend engineering analyses including trade studies, tolerance stacks, load paths, hand calculations, bolted joint analysis, FEA, and failure mode assessments that reduce technical risk and support design decisions.
Create production-ready CAD assemblies, detailed drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing documentation for assemblies ranging from 20–100+ components. Lead design reviews, DFM activities, and first article inspections.
Develop and execute verification plans covering environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, and EMI/EMC testing. Design supporting fixtures, analyze results, and drive corrective actions through design improvements.
Lead supplier selection, qualification, and production handoff by incorporating DFM feedback, defining inspection criteria, reducing manufacturing risk, and resolving supplier quality issues that impact production or field operations.
Partner closely with Systems, Electrical, Software, Reliability, Manufacturing, Integration & Test, Supply Chain, and Field Operations to align requirements, manage technical tradeoffs, and remove program execution risks.
Translate prototype designs into scalable production hardware that achieves target cost, manufacturing yield, assembly efficiency, and field reliability.
Mentor engineers (Senior) or establish engineering standards, lead technical programs, and provide technical leadership across organizations (Staff). Serve as a technical authority during design reviews, postmortems, and field failure investigations.