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Zipline

Robot type
Drone
Location
South San FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
Job type
Software
Posted
Sep 23, 2026
Salary
$160,000–$250,000 a year
Full-time

Senior Embedded Software Engineer - Avionics SW

Job description

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…

Job responsibilities

  • Own one or more end-to-end avionics subsystems, such as GNSS, Cellular, IMU and be the primary technical owner for design, implementation, and production readiness.
  • Deliver and maintain flight- and safety-critical code on embedded Linux: drivers, device bring-up, real-time data interfaces, fault management, and graceful degradation logic.
  • Define and ship measurable reliability and observability outcomes (in-field fault rates, test coverage targets). Instrument systems so flight-data can be used to detect regressions and prioritize fixes.
  • Lead hardware-in-the-loop, bench, and field validation for changes you introduce; partner with systems, hardware, test engineering, and operations to create repeatable test plans and failure-insertion exercises.
  • Build and extend tooling for deterministic test, logging, post-flight analysis, and automated regression tests to accelerate safe deployments across the fleet.
  • Triage and resolve high-severity field incidents: drive RCA, implement fixes, and own follow-through until fleet metrics demonstrate resolution.
  • Collaborate closely with avionics hardware, systems engineering, manufacturing, and flight operations to set integration boundaries, certification inputs, and release criteria for software changes.

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