Senior Embedded Software Engineer - Avionics SW
Own end-to-end avionics subsystems (GNSS, cellular, IMU) at Zipline: write flight- and safety-critical embedded Linux software in C++ or Rust, build diagnostics/validation tooling and hardware-in-the-loop tests, and drive RCA on high-severity fleet incidents for its autonomous drone delivery logistics platform.
- Compensation
- $160K–$250K / yr
- Location
- South San Francisco, California, USA
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 5+ years
- Category
- Embedded
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Substantial systems-level experience shipping embedded production code in C++ or Rust
- Experience with embedded Linux environments
- Proven track record deploying embedded software in safety- or mission-critical systems (aviation, robotics, industrial controls, or similar)
- Experience with fault management, deterministic real-time requirements, and validation strategies
- Able to read schematics, bring up peripherals from datasheets, and debug hardware/software interaction using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG, and in-field telemetry
- History of owning subsystem delivery end-to-end, shipping repeatable test suites, and meeting quantified reliability targets
- Comfortable with field testing cadence, occasional travel to flight-test sites, and incident response outside standard hours
- Bachelor's degree in EE/CS or equivalent experience
- Typically 5+ years in embedded/flight-critical systems or equivalent demonstrated impact
Nice to have
- Experience with bare-metal or RTOS environments
Full description
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
You will have experience in implementing proven reliable and deterministic software components for hardware peripherals for use in robotics or autonomous applications, particularly in systems deployed at scale. The role sits at the hardware/software boundary: you will be responsible for flight- and safety-critical embedded software running on an embedded Linux system, and for the diagnostics and validation infrastructure that proves the performance and reliability of that software in the field. Your work directly affects aircraft reliability, mission completion rate, and field-maintenance load across a distributed fleet.
What You'll Do
- Own one or more end-to-end avionics subsystems, such as GNSS, Cellular, IMU and be the primary technical owner for design, implementation, and production readiness.
- Deliver and maintain flight- and safety-critical code on embedded Linux: drivers, device bring-up, real-time data interfaces, fault management, and graceful degradation logic.
- Define and ship measurable reliability and observability outcomes (in-field fault rates, test coverage targets). Instrument systems so flight-data can be used to detect regressions and prioritize fixes.