Service Engineer I

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

17h•$75,000 - $95,000•Onsite

About The Position

As a Service Engineer I on Zipline’s Service Operations team, you will provide first-level technical support for grounded aircraft, droids, docks, and related operational systems. Your primary responsibility is to help return assets to service quickly, safely, and consistently by following approved troubleshooting guides, diagnostic workflows, and escalation procedures. This role is designed for technically curious operators who are calm under pressure, disciplined in following procedures, and strong at communicating across teams. This role is not expected to independently resolve highly complex or novel technical issues without support. Instead, success as a Service Engineer I comes from executing documented troubleshooting steps, capturing clear information, coordinating with the right teams, and escalating issues when additional Service Engineer II, Engineering, Maintenance, or Support Operations support is required. You will work closely with Service Engineer II teammates, Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Technical Writing, Maintenance, and Support Operations teams to improve troubleshooting documentation, identify process gaps, and help get aircraft and other operational assets back to airworthiness. This is a 24/7 operational support role that directly contributes to Zipline’s ability to serve customers around the world.

Requirements

Comfort working from procedures, checklists, and troubleshooting guides, and ability to reliably complete documented steps in high-pressure operational environments.
Technical curiosity and eagerness to learn how complex systems work, including aircraft, robotics, hardware, software, docks, and fleet operations.
Understanding of the importance of safety, quality, compliance, and documentation when working in a regulated or high-stakes environment.
Ability to explain what happened, what was tried, what changed, and what help is needed, and comfort coordinating with Service Engineer II teammates, Engineering, Maintenance, Technical Writing, and Operations teams.
Experience investigating technical or operational issues using guides, logs, dashboards, tools, or documented workflows.
Ability to stay calm when an issue is unclear, follow the available process, ask good questions, and escalate appropriately.
Understanding that accurate notes, ticket updates, and handoff details are essential for operational continuity, safety, compliance, and continuous improvement.
Ability to work well across shifts, functions, and time zones, understanding that strong handoffs and shared context are critical in a 24/7 operation.

Nice To Haves

3+ years experience with systems thinking
Bachelors degree or higher
Experience in technical support, service operations, maintenance coordination, aviation operations, robotics operations, hardware support, fleet operations, manufacturing support, field operations, or customer operations.
Experience working with ticketing systems, incident management tools, ERP systems, fleet management tools, or operational dashboards.
Experience following technical documentation, standard operating procedures, maintenance instructions, or troubleshooting guides.
Exposure to aircraft, drones, robotics, electromechanical systems, logistics systems, or complex operational environments.
Experience working in a 24/7 shift-based operations environment.
Experience providing feedback to improve technical documentation, training materials, standard operating procedures, or troubleshooting guides.
Basic familiarity with logs, telemetry, dashboards, or diagnostic tools.

Responsibilities

Support asset recovery and airworthiness by using approved troubleshooting guides, checklists, diagnostic tools, and escalation paths to help return grounded assets to service safely and efficiently.
Execute first-level troubleshooting by working through step-by-step troubleshooting workflows created by Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Maintenance, and Technical Writing teams, ensuring required steps are completed and documented before escalating issues.
Triage incoming issues by reviewing tickets, alerts, logs, and operational reports to understand the issue, determine severity, and prioritize work based on safety, customer impact, and operational need.
Escalate clearly and effectively by identifying when an issue requires support from Service Engineer II, Engineering, Maintenance, or Support Operations, and providing clear context, completed troubleshooting steps, relevant logs, and recommended next actions during escalation.
Coordinate with maintenance teams by creating work orders and supporting smooth handoffs when physical inspection, repair, replacement, or maintenance activity is required.
Document troubleshooting activity by accurately recording actions taken, outcomes, unresolved symptoms, and lessons learned in the appropriate systems, ensuring documentation supports operational traceability, shift handoffs, and regulatory requirements.
Improve troubleshooting guides by providing feedback to Technical Writing, Engineering, and Maintenance teams when guides are unclear, outdated, incomplete, or difficult to execute in real operational conditions.
Support 24/7 operations by participating in shift-based operations, including nights, weekends, holidays, handovers, and incident response workflows as needed to maintain continuous coverage.
Use Zipline operational tools such as Zerp, Fleet Apps, incident.io, ticketing tools, diagnostic dashboards, and other internal platforms used to monitor, troubleshoot, and return assets to service.
Contribute to continuous improvement by identifying recurring issues, documentation gaps, tooling friction, and opportunities to make first-level troubleshooting faster, clearer, and more repeatable.