Supplier Industrialization Engineer - Wire Harnessing

Zipline · South San Francisco, CA

Level: Engineer
Team: Industrial
Base pay: $130k–$190k
Travel: 30%
Degree: Required (or equivalent experience)
Industry: Aerospace & defense
Posted: 30+ days ago

The role in 30 seconds

An engineer-level industrial role at Zipline (aerospace & defense) in South San Francisco, CA. You will own the bridge between product design and supplier execution, from advanced development through mass-production qualification.

They ask for: degree required (or equivalent experience)
Tools it names: 5S, Root cause, PPAP
Base pay: $130k–$190k
Day to day: about 30% travel

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At a glance

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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 Industrial team at Zipline
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2
Send a short, curious note
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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 it more layout and capacity work, or time studies and standard work?
- The posting says about 30% travel. Between which sites?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
4
Apply with someone vouching for you
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5
Bring proof to the interview
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About the role

About You & the Role

Zipline Needs Wire Harness and FPC/FFC assemblies that can be built consistently at scale and perform reliably in the field. As a Harness Supplier Industrialization Engineer, you will own the bridge between product design and supplier execution, from advanced development through mass-production qualification. You will partner with engineering teams and contract manufacturers to make designs manufacturable, qualify production processes, confirm capacity, and close supplier-driven quality issues. Your work will determine whether suppliers are ready to support reliable Zipline hardware deployments.

Minimum Qualification

✓A degree in electrical, industrial, or mechanical engineering, or equivalent relevant experience.
✓Experience leading new-product industrialization and project management across engineering teams and contract manufacturers.
✓Strong working knowledge of wire harness and FPC/FFC assembly processes, including design rules for reliable production.
✓Practical experience with PPAP and structured problem-solving tools, including RCCA, fishbone analysis, process mapping, and 5S.
✓Direct experience improving supplier or contract-manufacturer quality, process capability, capacity, or production execution.
✓Clear written and spoken English for communicating technical requirements, readiness risks, and corrective actions across internal teams and suppliers.
✓Ability to travel internationally up to 30% to engage manufacturing partners, including occasional short-notice travel.

Why Join Zipline?

At Zipline, we’re revolutionizing logistics and using advanced technology to deliver critical supplies globally. As a Supplier Industrialization Engineer specializing in PCBA, you will play a pivotal role in scaling our next-generation electronics with best-in-class quality and efficiency. If you’re excited about pushing supplier development and manufacturing processes to the next level, we’d love to hear from you!

What else you need to know

This role is an in-person role, based out of our South San Francisco HQ. Must be eligible to work in the US and travel globally 30-40% of the time as needed. The starting cash range for this role is $130,000 - $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; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.

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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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 Do

•Provide design-for-manufacturing guidance for wire harness and FPC/FFC assemblies, partnering with engineering teams on assembly design rules.
•Lead supplier industrialization during new product introductions, owning critical-to-quality alignment from advanced development through mass-production qualification.
•Assess and recommend supplier readiness using PPAP evidence, quality-control processes, critical-to-quality requirements, and demonstrated production-line capacity.
•Audit supplier manufacturing processes onsite and drive improvements needed to meet Zipline expectations for quality, capacity, cost targets, responsiveness, and process efficiency.
•Own supplier-caused field-quality failures through containment, supplier corrective action requests, root-cause analysis, and verified corrective-action closure that prevents recurrence.
•Support supplier quotations as the manufacturing technical expert by evaluating process feasibility and informing manufacturing cost targets.