Zipline
Senior/Staff Applied Aerodynamicist
$185K–$255K
South San Francisco, California, USA +1 · Staff · Full-time · Posted Aug 5, 2026
- Location
- South San Francisco, California, USA
South San Francisco, California, United States - Experience
- Minimum of 4+ years of industry experience.
About the job
Drives aerodynamic design and testing for Zipline’s autonomous aircraft, from vehicle concepts and propellers to validated models and production-ready CAD surfaces.
What you'll do
- Lead conceptual design for new vehicles and major revisions to existing platforms.
- Build and validate aerodynamics models through ground and flight testing; design propellers for low noise and high efficiency.
- Develop and maintain aerodynamic test hardware, methods, and measurement tools, including wind tunnels and instrumented flight-test assets.
What they ask for
- At least 4+ years of industry experience and a proven record of shipping high-quality products.
- Detailed CFD flow analysis using packages such as Fluent, Star-CCM+, openFOAM, or powerFlow.
- Generative design of 3D aerodynamic objects using advanced surfacing techniques in CATIA or NX.
- Hands-on experimental aerodynamics experience, such as wind-tunnel testing and flow, pressure, optical, or load measurements.
Nice to have
- Experience with low- and mid-fidelity aircraft sizing tools such as XFOIL, XROTOR, OpenVSP, or RCAS.
- Understanding of aero fundamentals including vortex dynamics, boundary layers, turbulence, aircraft dynamics, propeller theory, and aeroacoustics.
Pay
$185,000 to $255,000 (USD) base salary
Tools
Fluent, Star-CCM+, openFOAM, powerFlow, CATIA, NX, XFOIL, XROTOR
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative