Senior Mechanical Engineer - Powertrain

ABOUT ZIPLINE

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building the first instant logistics system that serves all humans equally. Leveraging expertise in robotics and autonomy, Zipline serves tens of millions of people around the world. Join Zipline and help us to make good on our promise to build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.

ABOUT YOU AND THE ROLE

We’re looking for a talented and experienced mechanical engineer to join our Powertrain mechanical engineering team.

You will be a part of a small but mighty team and be responsible for batteries, motors, geartrain, propellers, and all components of autonomous delivery aircraft. You’ll be first and foremost an exceptional engineer, excited to help level up the team with your expertise in powertrain.

We’ve already helped make drone delivery a daily feature of medical care in the countries where we operate. As we expand the reach of our service, we are pushing our world-class powertrain to new levels of power, torque, and efficiency to reach even more people. If you are passionate about mechanical design and highly motivated by solving difficult challenges we want to hear from you.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Have design responsibility over one or more of the following areas; motors, gearboxes, propellers, power distribution, etc. across Zipline’s operational and next-generation aircraft.
• Solve mechanical design engineering challenges to improve system performance for aerospace-grade mass and reliability.
• Lead the design validation and durability testing campaigns and data analysis.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships with vehicle design teams to ensure seamless system integration.
• Uphold the powertrain mechanical design standards and processes.
• Carry designs through to high-volume product; DFM, cost reductions, and outsourcing.

MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE / SKILL SETS

• 5+ years experience of direct product development experience.

• Strong fundamentals in one of: batteries, motors, geartrain, propellers, thermal analysis, or power electronics integration.

• Experience with high volume manufacturing processes such as injection molding, stamping, forging, welding, casting, printing, etc.

• Team builder: hiring, coaching, and mentoring high caliber teammates.

• Extensive prototyping experience.

• Core skills: GD&T, 3D CAD, 2D Drawings, DFMEA, structural and thermal FEA.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW

About Zipline

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain. Join Zipline and help us to make good on our promise to build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.

About You and The Role

You enjoy solving complex structural problems using first principles analysis coupled with system level finite element models (FEM). You will be responsible for the structural design and analysis of aircraft primary structure from conceptual architecture phase through qualification testing. In this role you will own the durability and damage tolerance analysis of flight and ground structures including setting and upholding analysis requirements, processes, and standards. This role will work closely with structures and subsystems engineers to design and analyze fracture and fatigue tolerant structures and interfaces that operate in extreme environments for years without inspection or maintenance. You will work closely with Reliability and Test Engineering to identify, investigate, and root cause failures discovered in testing and in the field.

How to know if it's you: You’ve built your own prototypes to get quick answers, pencil and paper calculations are always your first step, you prefer simple and fast over detailed and large, you are on the floor during system testing, you have never presented a FEM plot without adjusting the legend scale. On any given day you could be building test articles in our composites/prototype labs, developing simple models to inform design trade studies, performing structural tests to validate analysis, working across disciplines to tackle complex system level challenges, root causing a test or field failure, or in the field supporting flight tests.

Zipline was founded by engineers dedicated to making the world a better place. We are building a new global industry and are looking for a talented engineer who takes a hands-on approach and will use analysis to drive design. The ideal candidate will be someone who excels in a fast paced, dynamic environment and is excited to own and drive simple, elegant solutions to complex problems that will help save lives every day.

What You’ll Do

• Vehicle Structural Analysis

  • Evaluate and optimize systems (flight and ground) for structural loads, vibration modes, and deflections
  • Perform analysis and sizing of airframe primary and secondary structure including static, dynamic, stability and damage tolerance analysis for metallic and non-metallic structures
  • Classical stress analysis (Roark/Bruhn) to do initial sizing
  • Dynamic analysis, including structural modes, random vibration, and forced harmonic vibration
  • Drive design trades with data from lightweight FEMs (Beams/Shells) that can be rapidly updated (daily) to match evolving configurations

• Durability and Damage Tolerance (DADT) Analysis

  • Evaluate and optimize metallic, composite, and plastic structures (flight + ground) for resistance to fatigue and fracture
  • Own and design elegant structural solutions for fracture critical components
  • Define program DADT requirements and methodologies for developing and analyzing damage tolerant designs for composites, metallics, and plastics, including developing fatigue spectra for fracture critical components
  • Quantify impact damage limits for metallic and composite structures
  • Derive material property requirements and maximum allowable flaw size requirements for damage tolerant designs
  • Assess and address nonconformances during manufacturing, testing, and field operations that may impact system DADT
  • Build and document standardized in-house tools and processes to perform DADT analysis

• Experimental Correlation of Flight and Test Data

  • Identify and define when test correlation is required to validate simulation models including static, dynamic, and flight tests
  • Produce pre-test predictions, instrumentation locations, and post test data analysis to tune model stiffness and stress results within 5% of test
  • Rapidly resolve test issues (hours) and provide corrective action direction for issues found in qualification testing
  • Work closely with design and test engineers to determine test requirements and support vehicle level tests

What You’ll Bring

• Passion for and demonstrated history of solving complex engineering challenges
• Experience with durability and damage tolerance analysis of metallic, composite, and plastic structures
• Experience with industry standard analysis tools (Siemens NX, FEMAP/NX Nastran, AFGROW/ NASGRO, Siemens Simcenter, MATLAB)
• Vehicle/System level architecture analysis
• History of working with cross functional teams to solve complex engineering problems

What Else You Need to Know

The starting cash range for this role is $160,000 - $210,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

If you’d like to learn more about Zipline and our teams, feel free to check out our Instagram, one of our Reddit AMA’s, or our website!