About this Mechanical Engineer, Production Equipment role at Zipline
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 & the Role
Zipline’s Manufacturing Engineering team delivers the production systems that turn autonomous delivery aircraft and their subsystems into reliable, repeatable products at scale. As a Mechanical Engineer, Production Equipment based in South San Francisco, you will own design and deployment of fixtures, workstations, mechanical tooling, and end-of-line test equipment that directly enable aircraft assembly, battery integration, dock components, and flight‑critical subsystems. Your work determines throughput, first-pass yield, assembly cycle time, and maintenance uptime for production lines that supply field operations and live delivery fleets; mistakes affect fleet readiness and safety-critical performance.
This opening sits within our manufacturing engineering team; the exact focus will reflect your strengths and the team’s needs. This role is based in South San Francisco, with regular on-site presence during manufacturing shifts. Occasional evening or weekend commissioning and up to 15% travel to vendor or field sites may be required.
What You’ll Do
- Own equipment and tooling projects from requirements, Siemens NX CAD, and detailed drawings through vendor fabrication, build, commissioning, and production release.
- Design alignment fixtures, press and torque tooling, ergonomic stations, error-proofing devices, handling fixtures, and automated end-of-line test rigs.
- Apply tooling standards, GD&T, tolerance analysis, and material and process selection to safe, maintainable equipment.
- Lead hands-on debugging and root-cause analysis during launches and production ramps, then validate durable improvements.
- Coordinate equipment scope, test requirements, and schedules with Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test, and Field Operations.
- Write technical RFQs, evaluate proposals, verify vendor quality, and perform acceptance testing before and after installation.
- Target tooling availability above 95%, station-level manual assembly cycle-time reductions of 20–40%, and at least 10% improvement in first-pass yield on targeted assemblies within the first 6–12 months of deployment.
What You’ll Bring
- 5+ years designing production equipment, fixtures, or custom automation in a high-volume or rapidly scaling manufacturing environment.
- A bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong command of GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanisms, material selection, and failure-mode thinking.
- Proficiency in 3D CAD; Siemens NX is preferred. SolidWorks or Creo experience is acceptable with a strong commitment to learning NX.
- Hands-on fabrication, build, commissioning, debugging, testing, and operator-training experience.
- Practical knowledge of pneumatics, actuators, sensors, linear motion, guarding, and industrial electrical interfaces.
- Experience coordinating vendor builds, validating equipment against drawings and quality criteria, and delivering measurable improvements in cycle time, uptime, yield, or cost.
- Strong ownership, sound judgment under pressure, and a commitment to safety and reliability
Nice to Have
- 5–7 years of relevant experience preferred.
- Experience with aerospace, drones, medical devices, or safety-critical electro-mechanical products is strongly preferred.
What Else You Need to Know
The starting cash range for this role is $120,000-150,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. We are always open to negotiation. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.
Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.
We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!
Voluntary Self-Identification
For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.
As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.
