Zipline
Sr. Manager, Powertrain Test Engineering
$220K–$300K
South San Francisco, California, USA +1 · Manager · Full-time · Posted Jul 20, 2026
- Location
- South San Francisco, California, USA
South San Francisco, California, United States - Experience
- 8+ years; includes 2+ years in a people management or technical leadership role.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
About the job
Leads powertrain test engineering, characterizing and validating electric motors, propellers, actuators, and related components for performance, durability, and reliability.
What you'll do
- Hire, lead, and develop test engineers and technicians; manage motor, propeller, and actuator test programs.
- Develop test methods and campaigns, validate thermal and motor models, and conduct reliability, durability, and failure-analysis testing.
- Design or partner on custom test equipment and develop fleet diagnostics for detecting damage and powertrain degradation.
What they ask for
- 8+ years in hardware test engineering, reliability engineering, or propulsion/powertrain development, including 2+ years in people management or technical leadership.
- Hands-on electric motor and/or propeller testing experience; strong motor thermal modeling and electromagnetics knowledge.
- Experience with actuator or servo-motor testing, reliability methods, and designing or specifying complex test equipment.
- Proficiency in Python or equivalent for scripting and data analysis; bachelor's degree in a related engineering field.
Nice to have
- BLDC motor testing experience.
- Advanced degree.
Pay
$220,000 - $300,000 (base salary)
Tools
BLDC, Python, DAQ systems, dynamometers, wind tunnels, environmental chambers, FMEA, Weibull analysis
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative