Hiring: Head of Systems Engineering Company: Zipline Location: South San Francisco, CA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-03 10:33:46 About the job Required Skills: •Lead the systems engineering team responsible for defining the product capabilities roadmap, decomposing those capabilities into concrete architectures engineering teams can deliver on, and system validation & verification of new capabilities across our current platforms as well as new and novel autonomous aircraft concepts. •In 2026, we will scale Platform 2 deliveries per day by 10x while we ramp range by 5x - so, we’ll fly 50x further every day than we do today. We’ll do that while ramping into significantly more complex airspaces and environmental conditions across 5 metros in the US. Then, in 2027 we’ll make a similar 10x+ jump while expanding across the globe. •Network Optimization & Capacity; Aircraft Autonomy; Flight Performance; Operational Design Domain / Operating Envelope; Flight Reliability and Fault Management •Serve as a trusted technical expert of high-reliability, safety-critical autonomous systems owning system level architecture, requirements, metrics, and test coverage to ensure we ship the right product capabilities, safely. •Define interfaces and drive cross disciplinary discussions to align on the right architectures to meet our goals •Develop frameworks and facilitate trade studies to optimize for performance, safety, and cost. •Create and maintain systems models and diagrams •Set the bar for hardware and software release standards and test requirements Qualifications: •Demonstrated leadership delivering complex technical solutions amid ambiguity, competing priorities, and a broad cross-functional organization. •A track record of shipping high-reliability, safety-critical autonomous systems into real-world operation. •Deep systems-engineering experience with product requirements, architecture, interface definition, system decomposition, verification planning, and validation. •Technical judgment in safety-critical autonomy, including fail-safe, fault-tolerant, and fail-operative approaches that sustain safe operation through faults. •Demonstrated capacity to develop technical leaders and communicate clear system decisions across engineering, safety, regulatory, and operational partners. •What Else You Need To Know Compensation: •$225,000 - $275,000 / year Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!