Senior / Staff Mechanical Design Engineer, Battery and Power Electronics
Zipline · South San Francisco, California, USA ·
- Seniority
- Staff
- Category
- Engineering design
- Experience
- 15+ years
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 builds autonomous delivery aircraft and ground systems that operate daily in varying field conditions. You will own hardware that directly impacts flight safety, fleet reliability, manufacturability, and our ability to scale autonomous delivery around the world.
The Battery & Power Electronics team is responsible for delivering power throughout the aircraft—including batteries, power distribution systems, busbars, and power connectors. You will lead the mechanical design of these systems from concept through production, balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost while partnering closely with cross-functional engineering teams.
Senior and Staff levels differ by scope. Senior Engineers own complex subsystems or end-to-end features within a program. Staff Engineers define technical direction across multiple programs, establish engineering standards, and lead cross-functional initiatives and strategic supplier partnerships.
What You'll Do
- Own end-to-end delivery of mechanical hardware from requirements → design → analysis → prototype → validation → release → production sustainment.
- Design battery enclosures, power electronics housings, busbars, and power distribution hardware that meet structural, thermal, EMI, cost, mass, and manufacturability requirements.
- Develop mechanical architectures that satisfy vibration, shock, thermal, overpressure, ingress protection, and safety requirements for flight-critical systems.
- Produce and defend engineering analyses including trade studies, tolerance stacks, load paths, hand calculations, bolted joint analysis, FEA, and failure mode assessments that reduce technical risk and support design decisions.
- Create production-ready CAD assemblies, detailed drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing documentation for assemblies ranging from 20–100+ components. Lead design reviews, DFM activities, and first article inspections.
- Develop and execute verification plans covering environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, and EMI/EMC testing. Design supporting fixtures, analyze results, and drive corrective actions through design improvements.
- Lead supplier selection, qualification, and production handoff by incorporating DFM feedback, defining inspection criteria, reducing manufacturing risk, and resolving supplier quality issues that impact production or field operations.
- Partner closely with Systems, Electrical, Software, Reliability, Manufacturing, Integration & Test, Supply Chain, and Field Operations to align requirements, manage technical tradeoffs, and remove program execution risks.
- Translate prototype designs into scalable production hardware that achieves target cost, manufacturing yield, assembly efficiency, and field reliability.
- Mentor engineers (Senior) or establish engineering standards, lead technical programs, and provide technical leadership across organizations (Staff). Serve as a technical authority during design reviews, postmortems, and field failure investigations.
What You'll Bring
- 5–15+ years of mechanical or electromechanical product development experience delivering complex hardware from concept through NPI and production (experience level used to determine Senior vs. Staff).
- Demonstrated ownership of multiple electro-mechanical products through design, validation, manufacturing, and supplier transfer.
- Expert CAD and documentation skills, including ownership of complex 3D assemblies and production drawings for 20–100+ part systems. Experience with NX, SolidWorks, or equivalent.
- Strong engineering fundamentals including GD&T, tolerance analysis, hand calculations (beam bending, buckling, bolted joints), FEA, thermal analysis, and design-for-manufacturing and assembly.
- Experience planning and executing environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, and reliability testing, with the ability to design test fixtures and interpret results.
- Demonstrated supplier development and DFM experience, with a track record of reducing NPI cycle time, manufacturing defects, or supplier quality issues.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present technical tradeoffs, influence stakeholders, and make sound engineering decisions under uncertainty.
What Else You Need To Know
The starting cash range for this role is $160,000 - $240,000. 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; 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.