Head of Hardware - Platform 1 (P1)

About Zipline

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Using robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.

Join Zipline and help us to make good on our promise to build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.

About You and The Role

As Head of Flight Systems, you will lead the team responsible for everything that makes our long-range drone system platform operate, including the aircraft and ground systems from avionics and power systems to mechanical design, embedded firmware, and manufacturing integration. You’ll own the reliability, performance, and manufacturability of Zipline’s long-range drone platform, ensuring it continues to meet the world’s most demanding operational and safety standards as we scale globally. This is a deeply technical, cross-disciplinary leadership role. You will bring together mechanical, electrical, and software engineers into one cohesive team, driving system-level trade-offs across design, manufacturing, and field performance. You’ll partner closely with Applications Software, Operations, and Manufacturing to ensure every aircraft we build and operate is safe, efficient, cost effective, and easy to maintain at scale. If you’re a pragmatic systems thinker who thrives on productionizing complex electromechanical systems into reliable products that perform in the real world, this is your opportunity to shape the heart of Zipline’s technology.

What You'll Do

• System Ownership & Architecture: Own the end-to-end architecture of the Flight Systems, integrating mechanical, electrical, and embedded components into a cohesive, safe, and scalable platform

• Reliability & Performance: Define and uphold standards for safety, robustness, and maintainability; drive validation and continuous improvement using field and test data.

• Design for Manufacture & Service: Partner with manufacturing and supply-chain teams to ensure designs meet cost, quality, and throughput goals while remaining serviceable in the field.

• Hands-On Leadership: Stay close to the engineering work: lead design and code reviews, root-cause analyses, and critical technical decisions.

• Team Development: Hire, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary team spanning mechanical, electrical, and software domains; build technical depth and leadership at every level.

• Cross-Functional Integration: Collaborate with Applications Software, Operations, Business and Regulatory teams to align interfaces, data, and certification efforts.

• Strategic Execution: Represent Flight Systems and engineering within the Platform 1 leadership team, providing clear visibility into progress, risks, and system-level trade-offs. Stay up-to-date with company priorities, risks, and major hurdles.

What You'll Bring

• Proven experience: 10+ years designing, building, and scaling complex electromechanical or aerospace systems, including 5+ years leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.

• Depth across core disciplines: Expertise in at least two of: mechanical design, electrical/power systems, embedded firmware, systems integration, or reliability engineering; working fluency and extensive experience across the rest.

• Systems thinking & architectural judgment: Ability to balance performance, cost, risk, and manufacturability; knows when to refactor versus stabilize.

• Operational rigor: Experience in DFM/DFA, verification & validation test campaigns, and scaling products from prototype through high volume production.

• Data-informed execution: Uses data and engineering expertise together to prioritize improvements and accelerate learning.

• Cross-functional leadership: Strong collaborator across hardware, software, manufacturing, and operations; able to translate between technical and operational needs and collaborate with fellow leaders to drive company priorities.

• Team building & mentorship: Track record of hiring and developing high-performing, diverse teams with a culture of accountability and ownership.

What Else You Need to Know

This role is based out of our South San Francisco HQ with a minimum of 4 days a week in office. Must be eligible to work in the US and travel globally as needed.

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!