Senior Full Stack Software Engineer at Zipline · Kigali

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 the Role

We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Data Platform team. You'll build and maintain the internal tools and infrastructure that power Zipline's autonomy development, from data pipelines to the applications our engineers and operators rely on every day.

You'll work closely with senior engineers across our global team, including our San Francisco headquarters, where much of Zipline's core autonomy and data platform work happens. It's a chance to learn from experienced engineers, ship code that supports aircraft flying real missions, and grow your career on a team that operates at a high bar.

Key Responsibilities:

• Application Development: Design, develop and maintain a suite of internal tools that support the annotation team in producing high-quality ML datasets.
• Collaboration with Internal Customers: Work closely with Machine Learning and Autonomy teams to understand their needs and requirements for annotation tools, ensuring that the tools are optimized for their workflows and deliver high-quality, accurate data.
• Data Engineering: Work with the Data Platform team to develop data pipelines and data models for integrating labelled Machine Learning data for Autonomy engineers.
• Automation & Efficiency: Identify opportunities to automate and optimize manual processes within the annotation workflows to reduce time and increase efficiency without compromising quality.
• Data Integrity & Quality Control: Implement features to track the progress and quality of annotations, monitor for errors and provide feedback to ensure the highest standards of data quality.

Reporting & Observability: Work with stakeholders to support building reports for internal vitals, data quality, and team performance.

• Version Control & Documentation: Maintain versioned releases of the annotation tools, ensuring proper documentation is in place for both internal users and external contractors.
• Bug Fixes & Troubleshooting: Respond to and resolve technical issues that arise with annotation tools, both in production environments and in development cycles.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with other engineering teams (e.g., Data Platform Team) to integrate the annotation tools with other internal systems and pipelines, as well as ensure smooth data flow between teams.
• Continuous Improvement: Continuously monitor the tool usage and performance, gather feedback from users, and iterate on the tools to improve usability, scalability and efficiency.

What You’ll Bring

Required:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Software, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong proficiency in programming languages such as React, Python, SQL or Rust
• 5+ years experience building, deploying, and maintaining software tools or applications that interact with both internal teams and external users/contractors.
• Experience with API integrations, web-hooks and other 3rd party integration technologies
• Familiarity with software development practices, including version control (e.g., Git), testing, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to troubleshoot complex software issues.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, both internal and external.
• Ability to relocate to Kigali, Rwanda

Preferred:

• Familiarity with UI/UX design principles and experience building or enhancing user interfaces.
• Knowledge of database management and integration (e.g., SQL, NoSQL).
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP) or containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with data annotation platforms or tools used in AI and machine learning workflows (e.g., Labelbox, v7, Encord, etc.).
• Experience with autonomous systems, robotics, or machine learning/AI-based tools.
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies.

What Else You Need to Know

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!

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Please Note

We have received reports stating that certain individuals are reaching out to people under false pretenses, claiming to be Zipline employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives. They may seek to gain access to your personal information or to acquire money from you by offering fictitious employment opportunities or by claiming that they are contacting you on Zipline’s behalf.

Genuine Zipline employees or representatives will never ask you for money or payment in exchange for employment opportunities or other related services. Any such offer of employment or any other service in exchange for fees that claims to be from us is deceitful and part of a fraud.