Software Engineer - Hardware Test

Company: Zipline
Location: South San Francisco
Posted on: April 2, 2026

Job Description:

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 As a Senior Software Engineer - Hardware Test at Zipline you will have the unique opportunity to develop and deploy high quality software that will power our automated testers for our next-generation of P2 hardware. By developing these tests you will gain a deep understanding of our avionics stack, flight and embedded code, and vehicle-sensors. You will own these test systems from early prototype design all the way to field/production root-cause, driving schedules and deliverables, interfacing with vendors and bridging cross-functional teams with a reliability and safety focus. Most importantly, your work will directly contribute to the design of future vehicles and verification of our next-generation aircraft. You are the last line of defense with our production testers before our vehicles are shipped all over the world to perform vital, life-saving deliveries. What You'll Do Architect, develop, and deploy test software and test assets that will be used to validate components from avionics boards, sensors, instrumentation, and mechanism assemblies. Develop automation-centric software scripts to streamline design and production testing. Develop a deep understanding of components under test becoming a subject matter expert in the component’s behavior under a range of environmental, performance, and system conditions. Coordinate cross-functional teams and external vendors to deploy high quality test systems in a timely manner to support vehicle-builds. Drive end-to-end test campaigns from development through design validation, certification, and production automation (often working all facets simultaneously). Triage and root-cause field failures, using data analysis, test heritage, correlation to operating conditions, and one-off test campaigns. Develop automation software scripts and visualization tools to streamline design and production testing. What You'll Bring 5 years of programming experience in Python for high volume production applications (manufacturing/EOL software development experience). Some knowledge of embedded C and ability to understand Rust is desired. Experience with object oriented programming. Experience building automation systems for use in safety-critical and factory applications. Experience working with Git / CI and the software development and validation process. Experience developing software that interfaces directly with hardware including navigating datasheets and validating hands-on with representative hardware. Experience developing test plans, test requirements, and test criteria for hardware products. Experience using and deep understanding of common test instrumentation and data acquisition hardware. Experience solving complex multidisciplinary problems with little supervision on schedule as an individual or as a member of an integrated team. Must be authorized to work in the US. What Else You Need to Know The starting cash range for this role is $160,000 - $190,000. 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, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies. 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!

Keywords: Zipline, Fremont , Software Engineer - Hardware Test, Engineering , South San Francisco, California