Software Engineer, Production Test

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

10d•$125,000 - $145,000

About The Position

Zipline is hiring a Software Engineer, Production Test to own software that orchestrates electrical, functional, and automated testing of aircraft, docks, delivery pods, and subassembly hardware. The role develops reproducible test flows, instrument interfaces, data logging, and MES integration, and carries test software through tester validation, deployment, and sustainment. The engineer works closely with electrical, mechanical, firmware, quality, and manufacturing partners to debug test behavior and maintain traceable software changes across production testers. This hands-on individual-contributor role contributes to end-to-end test-system delivery for factory floors supporting high-throughput manufacturing and rapid product iterations. Production testing directly affects fleet uptime, field reliability, and customer deliveries. The role prioritizes safety, traceability, and measurable improvements in yield and time-to-deploy in a fast-scaling production environment. First-year success includes delivering and validating production tester programs with documented acceptance criteria and production-release evidence; reducing false failures while improving first-pass yield, cycle time, and tester uptime for supported lines; and sustaining traceable, repeatable test execution while reporting progress against agreed production goals.

Requirements

7+ years building production test systems, automated test equipment, or end-of-line testers for electromechanical products, with ownership of multiple shipped tester programs.
BS in Electrical, Mechatronics, Mechanical, or Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.
Hands-on skills in instrumentation, signal measurement, power delivery, harnessing, sensors, actuators, and PCBA debugging.
Strong test-automation experience and experience with common test instruments.
Familiarity with CAN, UART, Ethernet, I2C, SPI, USB, and firmware-hardware interactions.
A record of measurable production improvements, cross-functional coordination, and vendor qualification.
Rigorous attention to safety, traceability, hands-on troubleshooting, and technical judgment under production pressure.

Nice To Haves

Python is preferred.
Experience with LabVIEW, TestStand, or embedded test frameworks.

Responsibilities

Implement test automation and data pipelines for repeatable execution, logging, MES/MFG integration, and production dashboards.
Own production testers and calibration stations from requirements through internal or vendor build, installation, validation, release, and sustainment.
Define test coverage, pass/fail limits, golden units, GR&R, capability targets, and release criteria with design, firmware, quality, and operations partners.
Build electrical and functional testers integrating harnessing, DAQ, sensors, actuators, power systems, safety interlocks, and mechanical fixtures.
Troubleshoot PCBA failures, tester instability, fixture issues, software defects, and product/tester correlation failures on the factory floor.
Improve first-pass yield, false-fail rate, cycle time, uptime, and utilization; set targets and report progress monthly.
Coordinate vendor builds, FAT/SAT, qualification, training, calibration, spares, and change control.
Standardize tester interfaces and automation to reduce operator steps and touch time; maintain procedures, validation records, and maintenance plans for traceable production.