Sr/Staff System Test and Validation Engineer

Develop novel ways of replicating in-flight environments on the ground, including external factors (dust, ingress, icing), and internal vehicle stresses.

Deeply understand the vehicle DFMEA and own the vehicle actuation during system test.

Translate mission profiles into qualification and life-test plans, including accelerated test design, stress levels, and sample size justification. Stay ahead of aircraft profiles and load curves, to help unlock new capability.

Develop health monitoring and anomaly detection software (Python, Rust) for aircraft and robotic systems, with emphasis on using the vehicle’s on-board telemetry.

Drive the ‘rapid failure finding’ branch of the system test campaigns, a core input to design cycles and achieving maintenance goals.

Build data pipelines and automated analysis tooling to adapt flight-software validators for system tests.

Drive or develop directly the features needed in flight code to enable ‘Test Mode’ functionality.

Integrate off-board sensors (cameras, airspeed sensors, other instrumentation) for continuous monitoring of vehicle health and tester health during long-duration tests.

Conduct characterization of test assets, including developing analytical models and running instrumented test campaigns, to correlate test conditions to flight.

Drive decisions about test strategy overall: what new features are needed in system test, what should be tested at the system-level vs. component level vs. flight test. How to bring more coverage into system tests, and ways of rapid failure-finding.

Collaborate with the Reliability team to hone the strategy of long-duration vs. multiple vehicles being tested, as a function of the part-to-part variability and overall CapEx strategy.

Demonstrated experience leading test engineers, equipment designers, and technicians for complex hardware programs.

Experience planning and running environmental, durability, and reliability test campaigns that inform engineering decisions.

Experience in reliability techniques including MTBF, Weibull analyses, and DFMEAs.

Strong electromechanical skills in embedded controls, real-time compute, and actuation.

Software proficiency (Python, Rust, C/C++)

Electrical engineering fundamentals including battery systems, communications protocols, and RF systems.

Strong hardware-debugging intuition and electrical troubleshooting skills for aircraft or similarly complex electromechanical systems.- Sound judgment to prioritize test capability, campaign scope, and fault investigations across multiple hardware programs.

Excellent ability to ‘get unstuck’ and make progress in a complex and changing environment.

Experience developing real-time controls in safety critical applications.

The starting salary for this role is $165,000 - $230,000. Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

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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As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.