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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. Through our technology that includes 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

The Powertrain team is a multi-disciplinary hardware and software team responsible for designing the electric drivetrain at the heart of our life-saving drone delivery service, operating in some of the harshest environments on earth.

As the Test Engineering Manager for Powertrain, you and your team will be responsible for performance and reliability testing Zipline’s custom battery and drivetrain components. Zipline’s electrified powertrain is the heart of a new unmanned aerial system that will enable Zipline’s mission of 100 million deliveries per year across the globe. The powertrain system is core to service radius and performance in inclement weather. Zipline’s future success depends on the development of electric drivetrains systems that are low mass, low cost, high reliability, and produced at high volumes.

We are looking for a leader with a strong foundation in electrical engineering and the proven capacity to lead and grow a high-performing team.

What You'll Do

• Hire, lead, and mentor the test engineering department responsible for powertrain performance and reliability testing, including building this function within the department and setting the bar for performance and reliability testing.
• Manage the requirements and verification test plans of the next-generation of Zipline powertrain hardware, from batteries, motors, gearboxes, propellers, thermal performance, aeroacoustic performance, and NVH.
• Maintain visibility across the hardware your team owns, and have the ability to deep dive into projects and challenges.
• Leverage your technical leadership expertise in hardware design and test to establish a team culture that biases toward action and tests ideas.
• Drive root-cause understanding of test failures; drive test campaigns to stay one step ahead of the design process.
• Lead the demonstration of powertrain system performance, including range, efficiency and weather performance.
• Manage the development of custom test equipment used in cell and battery engineering, thermal runaway testing, propeller aeroacoustic testing, and motor and gearbox performance testing.

What You'll Bring

• Minimum 8 years of experience in electrical/mechanical design or test engineering.
• Past success growing and leading a high-performance team, including direct leadership and leading as a ‘lead-of-leads’.
• Strong engineering fundamentals in the areas of dynamic testing and electric drivetrain, including motor and gearbox performance, powertrain system interactions, modal analysis, and NVH.
• Clear communication skills and the ability to explain technical challenges and solutions to fellow engineers and non-engineers alike.
• Experiencing using industrial test automation and data logging equipment (NI cDAQ) and associated sensor selection.
• Experience with programming languages such as Python.
• Deep experience with environmental and durability testing.
• Must be eligible to work in the US
• Must be able to work in person at Zipline’s South San Francisco Headquarters

What Else You Need to Know