Zipline
Mechanical Design Engineer, Structures & Mechanisms
$145K–$225K
South San Francisco, California, USA +1 · Full-time · Posted Aug 14, 2026
- Location
- South San Francisco, California, USA
South San Francisco, California, United States
About the job
Owns structural and mechanical aircraft hardware from concept through testing, production scaling, and field sustainment, with responsibility for safety, reliability, and manufacturability.
What you'll do
- Deliver structural or mechanical subsystems end to end, from requirements and design through testing, release, and operational support.
- Develop and defend analyses, CAD assemblies, drawings, manufacturing documentation, and design reviews for safety-critical hardware.
- Qualify suppliers and scale production by driving DFM, inspection criteria, cost, cycle time, and in-field reliability targets.
What they ask for
- Proven ownership of mechanical or electromechanical hardware validation through development, qualification, production ramp, and field deployment.
- Experience planning and executing environmental, vibration, fatigue, and thermal verification, including designing test fixtures and interpreting data.
- Hands-on experience designing carbon composite structures, injection moulded plastics, metallic structures, and/or servo-actuated mechanisms.
- Strong mechanical fundamentals and supplier/DFM experience, including a track record reducing NPI cycles, scrap, or supplier defects.
Pay
$145,000 – $225,000 USD starting salary
Tools
CAD, GD&T
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative