Manufacturing Process Engineer

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.

• •Own assigned assembly lines and feeder subassemblies from process definition, tooling, and pilot builds through validation, release, and sustainment.
• •Design, procure, install, and commission fixtures, gauges, tooling, workstations, and ergonomic operator flows.
• •Define and validate assembly sequences, PFMEAs, control plans, SPC, capability studies, first-article processes, and release criteria.
• •Investigate production issues and escapes, validate root causes, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• •Improve first-pass yield, throughput, takt time, equipment reliability, downtime, and cost of poor quality against agreed targets.
• •Lead design-for-manufacturing decisions that balance assembly time, inspection, cost, safety, and field reliability.
• •Create SOPs, work instructions, and training materials; train and qualify technicians and line leads.
• •Coordinate capacity, layouts, equipment, and readiness with Design Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Maintenance, and Operations; deliver a validated pilot line and stabilize production.

• •2+ years of hands-on manufacturing engineering experience designing, building, and sustaining assembly lines for complex electro-mechanical products, with a track record of scaling volume by an order of magnitude.
• •5–7 years of relevant experience preferred.
• •A BS in Mechanical Engineering or a related field is required; an advanced degree is a plus.
• •Practical mastery of PFMEA, control plans, SPC, capability analysis (Cp/Cpk), first-article processes, and production validation.
• •Experience designing and validating custom fixtures, jigs, and tooling, with proficiency in 3D CAD; Siemens NX is preferred.
• •Experience with MES/ERP and statistical tools such as Minitab, JMP, or Excel to measure and improve yield and process capability.
• •Demonstrated cross-functional DFM decisions that balance cost, manufacturability, safety, and field reliability.
• •End-to-end project ownership with minimal oversight, including planning, budgeting, procurement, commissioning, and sustaining production lines.
• •A hands-on approach to manufacturing, careful attention to process details, clear communication of tradeoffs under schedule pressure, and a commitment to safety and quality.
• •Accountability for ramp milestones and agreed yield, throughput, and cost targets, with a structured approach to preventing production escapes and meeting release criteria.

• •Deliver a validated pilot line for the assigned electro-mechanical assembly, with documented process controls and demonstrated Cp/Cpk targets.
• •Achieve first-pass yield and throughput targets established at project start and reduce key PFMEA failure modes through validated process improvements.
• •Meet the established production-release window and stabilize yield and throughput through cross-functional execution and sustained corrective actions.

What Else You Need to Know

The starting cash range for this role is $104,000 - $170,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum