Hiring: Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Simulation & Validation Company: Zipline Location: South San Francisco, CA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-10 10:33:45 Target Skills & Keywords : AWS, C++, Kubernetes, MATLAB, Machine Learning, Python, Rust About the job Experience: •5+ years of experience building software systems for simulation, testing, or safety validation — ideally in robotics, autonomy, aerospace, or other real-time, safety-critical domains Required Skills: •Zipline is building the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering vital medical and commercial supplies across the globe. As we scale our operations and extend into more complex, safety-critical environments, the ability to validate and prove our autonomy performance at scale becomes absolutely essential. •This is not a QA role. It’s a foundational software engineering position building critical systems that will directly shape how we test, verify, and deploy autonomy safely around the world. •Build and own the infrastructure for validating autonomous features and system performance across planning, perception, and control. •Design and develop simulation tools and scenario generation for large-scale and high-fidelity testing of autonomy under real-world and edge-case conditions. •Develop custom tools for validation and testing of autonomy components that plug into our internal autonomy development stack. •Create scalable, reliable, and automated solutions for running, tracking, and analyzing thousands of validation tasks across autonomy org. •Autonomy engineers, to understand how system behavior should be evaluated. •Systems and data engineers, to ensure metrics, safety thresholds, and requirements are codified in test infrastructure. Qualifications: •Strong software engineering skills with proficiency in C++, Rust, or C (Python is a plus for tooling and scripting) •Hands-on experience building or working with simulation systems for robotics or autonomous systems, particularly for testing or validation •Understanding of validation methodologies, including defining metrics, evaluating system behavior, and testing complex electromechanical systems •Familiarity working with systems engineering concepts (requirements, safety constraints, metrics) •Exposure to autonomy stacks (planning, perception, control) •Some exposure to machine learning systems (not required) •What We’re Not Looking For Primarily MATLAB/Simulink-based simulation experience •Roles focused mainly on systems engineering without hands-on software development •Infrastructure- or DevOps-focused roles without experience in autonomy or simulation •QA/QC-focused verification roles without significant software engineering ownership Compensation: •$180,000 - $260,000 / 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!