Real job — pulled straight from Zipline’s careers page · Verified June 25, 2026 · No reposts.
Job description
Zipline is hiring a Senior Controls Engineer — a full-time, based in South San Francisco, CA role ($170k–$210k). Apply directly on Zipline's careers page below.
Senior Controls Engineer
Location: South San Francisco, California, USA
Department: Engineering
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
What You'll Do
- Develop dynamic models of complex systems and components that are core to our high fidelity 6DOF simulation.
- Analyze and improve the performance of existing and future vehicle designs through a combination of simulation and flight tests.
- Play a key role in deriving and verifying requirements for both hardware components and software interfaces, while balancing the technical need and broader product prerequisites as well as safety and regulatory standards.
- Identify and develop processes and tools to improve efficiency and protect against regressions.
- Design and implement onboard integrity tests to monitor how well the vehicle is flying and aid in understanding off-nominal performance and delivery failures, both in research and validation flights, as well as in the production fleet.
- Work in a high performing team, sharing your experience and improving efficiency while developing the next generation of logistics.
What You'll Bring
- Minimum of 4+ years of industry experience designing control, estimation algorithms and implementing them into embedded systems with the help of simulation tools to analyze performance
- Professional experience in one or more of the following areas: flight dynamics and control, dynamic modeling of complex physical systems, model identification, statistical analysis. Ideally you will have used your skills in these areas to successfully ship one or more complex products.
- Demonstrate enthusiasm and proficiency in both simulation practices and hands-on work with hardware, spanning from bench-level experimentation to comprehensive flight tests.
- Software skills in both technical computing (MATLAB, SciPi, Julia, etc) and embedded software (Rust, C, C++), with experience working in a large, complex, multi-developer environment.
What Else You Need to Know
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!
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Frequently asked questions
What is the salary for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline?
The estimated salary range for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline is $170,000 - $210,000 USD per year.
What skills are required for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline?
The required skills for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline include: Matlab, Julia, Rust, C, C++, Embedded Systems.
What is the seniority level for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline?
Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline is a Senior level position.
How do I apply for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline?
You can view the full description and apply for Senior Controls Engineer at Zipline on EchoJobs: https://echojobs.io/job/zipline-senior-controls-engineer-5tuav.