Senior Production Test Engineer
Zipline · San Francisco, United States · 1mo ago
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
We are hiring a Senior Production Test Engineer to own electrical, functional, and automated test systems that verify Zipline aircraft, dock, delivery pod, and subassembly hardware at scale. Zipline operates safety-critical autonomous aircraft and logistics systems that deliver medicine and essentials across varied field conditions; production test directly affects fleet uptime, field reliability, and customer deliveries. In this role you will lead end-to-end test system delivery for factory floors that support high-throughput manufacturing and rapid product iterations. You will be expected to prioritize safety, traceability, and measurable improvements in yield and time-to-deploy while working in a fast-scaling production environment with direct consequences for aircraft reliability and delivery network performance.
What You'll Do
- Own design, delivery, and sustainment of production testers and calibration stations from requirements through internal or vendor build, installation, validation, and continuous improvement for aircraft, dock, pod, and subassembly builds.
- Define tester acceptance criteria: test coverage, pass/fail limits, golden-unit strategy, GR&R, capability targets, and production release criteria in partnership with Electrical Design, Firmware, Quality, and Operations.
- Architect and implement electrical and functional testers including harnessing, DAQ, sensors/actuators, power systems, safety interlocks, and mechanical fixtures to meet cycle-time and throughput targets.
- Implement test automation and data pipelines (Python, LabVIEW/TestStand or equivalent) to enable reproducible, high-throughput test flows, data logging, MES/MFG integration, and production dashboards.
- Drive measurable outcomes: increase first-pass yield, reduce false-fail rate, improve tester uptime/utilization, and shorten per-unit cycle time—set targets and report progress monthly.
- Troubleshoot and resolve production escalations on the floor: debug PCBA-level electrical failures, tester instability, fixture issues, SW bugs, and product/tester correlation failures under time pressure.
- Lead cross-functional launches: coordinate requirements, validation plans, training, calibration schedules, spares strategy, and change control with Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Technicians, Operations, and external vendors.
- Identify and deploy scalable tester architectures and automation that reduce operator steps, minimize touch time, and standardize interfaces across lines.
- Produce and maintain test documentation: test procedures, maintenance/calibration plans, validation records, and change-control artifacts required for production readiness and traceability.
What You'll Bring
- 7+ years building production test systems, automated test equipment, or end-of-line testers for electro-mechanical or mechatronic products; demonstrated ownership of multiple shipped tester programs.
- BS in Electrical, Mechatronics, Mechanical, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- Deep practical skills in instrumentation, signal measurement, power delivery, harnessing, connectorization, sensor/actuator interfaces, and PCBA debug with hands-on shop-floor experience.
- Strong test automation experience: Python preferred; experience with LabVIEW, TestStand, or embedded test frameworks and integrating DAQ, scopes, DMMs, power supplies, and electronic loads.
- Proficiency with embedded/product interfaces (CAN, UART, Ethernet, I2C, SPI, USB) and strategies for validating communications and firmware-hardware interactions.
- Track record of delivering measurable production improvements (first-pass yield, cycle time, false-fail reduction, tester utilization, GR&R) and owning metrics reporting.
- Experience working directly on manufacturing floors during launches and escalations; willing to spend significant onsite time supporting shifts, debugging, and qualifying equipment.
- Comfortable with frequent cross-functional coordination and leading vendor builds, FAT/SAT, and production qualification activities.
- Must-have traits: rigorous attention to safety and traceability, decisive technical judgment under production pressure, practical hands-on test/debug capability, and insistence on measurable outcomes.
- Location & logistics: role is based at Zipline’s manufacturing site in the listed location (onsite-first with regular floor presence); travel to other Zipline sites or vendor locations may be required for launches and validations.
- (first-year success indicators you will own: deliver and validate X major tester programs; reduce false-fail rate by a targeted percentage; achieve specified first-pass yield and cycle-time improvements for supported lines.)
What Else You Need to Know
The starting cash range for this role is $125,000 - $170,000. 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.