Industrial Designer
Zipline · South San Francisco, California, USA ·
- Category
- Design
- Experience
- 3+ years
Design the physical user experience for Zipline’s next-gen drone logistics platform, turning constraints into intuitive, manufacturable products from concept to deployment.
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 and The Role
Zipline’s New Products team creates the next generation of products across aircraft, robotics, infrastructure, operations, and customer experience. As an Industrial Designer, you will shape the physical user experience of Platform 2, turning complex mechanical, operational, and customer constraints into products people can understand and use.
You will own design decisions from research and early concepts through prototypes and detailed, manufacturable design. Your work will help teams choose what to build, reduce the risks that matter most, and deliver Platform 2 updates or new elements for real-world deployment.
What You'll Do
- Own the physical design and user experience for Platform 2 updates or new system elements, including form and layout and influence interfaces, packaging, assembly, and mechanisms.
- Research customer and operator needs through observation, interviews, prototyping, and testing; translate findings into design decisions.
- Explore ambiguous problems, identify the largest user, technical, and deployment risks, and define practical experiments or next steps.
- Communicate concepts through sketches, physical mockups, CAD, renderings, and clear narratives that enable cross-functional decisions.
- Partner with engineering, software, manufacturing, operations, and product teams to integrate mechanical, material, assembly, and deployment constraints.
- Drive designs from early learning into validated, manufacturable platform releases; make thoughtful scope decisions that preserve user value and accelerate delivery.
What You'll Bring
- A portfolio demonstrating shipped or well-developed physical products, clear design reasoning, and work across research, concept development, prototyping, and detailed design.
- Strong three-dimensional design skills across form, layout, physical interfaces, and user interaction, with sketching, CAD, rendering, and visual communication fluency.
- 3+ years of experience designing for people with different needs, backgrounds, capabilities, and familiarity with new technology.
- Sound judgment in ambiguous situations, including the ability to ask incisive technical and non-technical questions and make decisions with incomplete information.
- Comfort working with complex mechanical or electromechanical systems and incorporating manufacturing, materials, packaging, and mechanism constraints.
- A hands-on approach to building and testing prototypes, appearance models, or functional mockups, with clear written, verbal, and visual communication.
What Else You Need To Know
The starting cash range for this role is $117,000-$205,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. 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; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.
- Industrial Designer: $117,000–$175,000
- Senior Industrial Designer: $137,000–$205,000
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.