Head of Flight Test Engineering
Zipline · South San Francisco, CA
- Level
- Director+
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Base pay
- $200k–$260k
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A director-level manufacturing role at Zipline (aerospace & defense) in South San Francisco, CA. As Head of Flight Test Engineering, you will lead the team that converts complex engineering questions into safe, representative release evidence.
- They ask for
- 5+ years
- Tools it names
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), Robotics, Automation, Tooling
- Base pay
- $200k–$260k
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Manufacturing Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $114k–$167k. This one lists $200k–$260k.
Median of the low and high ends of 117 live postings that list pay, out of 320 manufacturing engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 319 other live manufacturing postings in California.
- Base pay
- About 72% above similar roles
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $111k–$157k, from 105 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Tooling 53%
- New product launch 51%
- Root cause 40%
- ✓ Automation 35%
- Machining 29%
- CATIA / NX 29%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at Zipline
We found 3 people at this company and state: 2 in this kind of role, 1 leaders. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Scott → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Zipline in South San Francisco
25 other open roles at this site · 3 people we found in manufacturing roles at Zipline.
- Supplier Quality Engineer · Quality
- Mechanical Engineering Manager · Reliability · Manager
- Senior Manufacturing Engineer · Manufacturing · Senior
- Marketplace Strategy & Operations Manager · Production · Manager
- Engineering Technician, Powertrain · Manufacturing
- Production Technician · Production · Technician
Full description from ZiplineAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
About You and The Role
Zipline builds autonomous delivery systems that move critical goods through real-world logistics networks. Flight test provides the evidence that aircraft, software, delivery operations, docking and charging systems, and fleet capabilities are ready for commercial operations.
As Head of Flight Test Engineering, you will lead the team that converts complex engineering questions into safe, representative release evidence. You will own flight test strategy and campaigns while strengthening the automation, data, and operating practices that help Zipline learn quickly and make rigorous release decisions.
You are both a strong technical leader and a hands-on systems thinker. You should be excited to lead and grow a team while diving into test architecture, data, automation, risk assessment, and execution details. You should bring strong judgment about when to move quickly, when to invest in durable infrastructure and process, and how to balance engineering rigor with the pace required to support a rapidly evolving autonomous delivery system.
What You'll Do
- ◆]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" data-turn-id="request-WEB:7175882e-5849-4ee6-8189-a5f856f85cd8-25" data-turn-id-container="request-WEB:7175882e-5849-4ee6-8189-a5f856f85cd8-25" data-testid="conversation-turn-40" data-turn="assistant">
- ◆Lead, grow, and develop the Flight Test Engineering team.
- ◆Own the validation strategy for new aircraft capabilities, software releases, hardware changes, delivery operations, docking and charging systems, fleet behavior, and operational concepts.
- ◆Define campaign objectives, success criteria, risk posture, and go/no-go frameworks with Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Autonomy, Cloud, Systems, Product, and Regulatory teams.
- ◆Build and oversee flight test campaigns that produce clear release-readiness evidence and expand representative regression coverage across the end-to-end logistics system.
- ◆Improve automated test infrastructure, data pipelines, anomaly detection, reporting, and correctness metrics to increase repeatability, test velocity, test capacity, and decision quality.
- ◆Choose the appropriate validation modality—flight, simulation, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, or ground testing—to focus flight testing on the highest-value learning.
- ◆Partner with Flight Test Operations on site readiness, execution processes, operational scalability, and support for testing in new geographies and environments.
- ◆Foster a strong safety culture across Flight Test Engineering and Operations, ensuring compliance with regulations and internal standards.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
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.
What You'll Bring
- •]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" data-turn-id="request-WEB:7175882e-5849-4ee6-8189-a5f856f85cd8-26" data-turn-id-container="request-WEB:7175882e-5849-4ee6-8189-a5f856f85cd8-26" data-testid="conversation-turn-42" data-turn="assistant">
- •5+ years designing, developing, validating, or testing complex autonomous, robotic, aerospace, aviation, or safety-critical systems; UAS experience is strongly preferred.
- •Experience leading flight test, system test, validation, or field test engineering teams while staying technically engaged.
- •Experience taking complex test campaigns from objective definition through planning, execution, analysis, and release recommendation.
- •Systems-level judgment across software, embedded, electrical, mechanical, controls, operations, and regulatory constraints.
- •Experience building or integrating test automation, analytics tooling, data pipelines, or scalable validation systems that improve coverage and efficiency.
- •Ability to lead cross-functional technical programs and communicate safety, risk, and engineering tradeoffs to engineers, operators, executives, and regulatory partners.
- •Comfort working in field environments with operational teams and willingness to travel domestically and internationally for flight testing, team leadership, and test-site support.
What Else You Need To Know
The starting cash range for this role is $200,000-$260,000. Please note th