Flight Test Operator, Half Moon Bay at Zipline in Half Moon Bay, CA

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.

About You and The Role

Do you have excellent drone piloting skills, enjoy debugging drone hardware and software, and thrive on a collaborative, fast-paced team? If you’re committed to our mission of making access to life saving medical supplies a reality and welcome the challenge of flying newly developed drones, read on!

As designs evolve, it’s critical that concepts are tested early and thoroughly to ensure our system architecture decisions are actually going to work in the field. On the System Test and Integration team, you will own flight operations of early stage aircraft, from custom prototypes through the bring-up of new production builds. This could involve manual R/C piloting, ground based checkouts for airworthiness, or leveraging Zipline’s automated flight systems. Each day brings new opportunities to test and learn about our technology, so you can help Zipline advance the systems that our customers’ lives depend on. Successful flight test operators for this team have strong aviation knowledge, top-notch maker skills and the interpersonal skills to coordinate activities across many teams.

What You'll Do

• Independently own all aspects of flight operations, looping in engineering support as needed to make quick progress:
  • Troubleshoot, maintain and upgrade electromechanical aircraft systems
  • Validate aircraft ahead of flight through a series of ground-based tests
  • Develop and maintain preflight checklists and other operational procedures
  • Execute flight tests across a variety of aircraft
• Manage safety in a bustling test facility to mitigate risk from prototype flights
• Document your processes from inspections to flight tests
• Send out regular status updates to the team on challenges, failures and wins
• Align with engineering on the best course of action to achieve flight test goals on time
• Lean into the chaos, request support as needed, and dynamically prioritize projects as flight conditions change

What You'll Bring

Must have technical skills

• FAA Part 107 Certification
• Strong aeronautical decision making skills and familiarity with flight controller functions
• 2+ years experience manually piloting quadcopter drones, professionally or independently
• 2+ years experience with electromechanical build and troubleshooting projects (including hobbyist drone or maker projects)
• Great communication, documentation and organization skills
• Experience managing multiple competing projects with limited resources
• Initiative to tackle any challenge that comes your way
• Interpersonal skills to leverage the strengths of a cross-disciplinary team

Nice to have technical skills

• Hands-on experience working in a Linux command line environment
• Ability to create rapid prototypes (3d printing, laser cutting, etc.)

What Else You Need to Know

Please note that:

This is a full-time position

The starting cash range for this role is $37 - $45/ hour. 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.

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!