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.