Open as of August 7, 2026

Senior/Staff Applied Aerodynamicist

flyziplineSouth San Francisco, California, USA

Job description

About Zipline

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products.

Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe.

We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds.

About You and The Role

It’s hard to fly without a foundational understanding of how to manipulate the air around you; this role provides exactly this to the Zipline design team. We don’t just analyze other peoples’ designs - we are a central force behind Zipline’s autonomous aircraft hardware and software development, working on everything from clean-sheet vehicle conceptual layout through to the detailed geometry design of all wetted surfaces using a variety of model-based and physical test approaches. You’ll have an unrivaled grasp of the fundamentals of applied aerodynamics, aircraft design and aeroacoustics, and be able to figure out the fastest path to converting your knowledge into excellent designs that scale rapidly.

What You'll Do

You will be owning and driving one or more of the following:

Conceptual design for new vehicles, as well as significant hardware revisions of existing platforms
Building high quality aerodynamics plant models that are carefully validated through ground- and flight-based testing
Propeller designs that push the boundary of low noise, whilst maintaining high aerodynamic efficiency
Having worked out how to find step improvements in range, reductions in noise and enhanced maneuverability, you deliver high quality CAD surfaces, which are used by mechanical designers as inputs to produce the final parts
Designing and maintaining our test hardware and methods, including internal wind tunnels, bench test set-ups, and instrumented flight test assets, as well as the essential aero measurement tools

What You'll Bring

Success in this role will require a disciplined and first-principles approach, with a deep connection and understanding at the system and product levels. You’ll be naturally curious and able to work seamlessly with individuals and teams both inside and outside of your core engineering / scientific discipline. Extracting academic rigor and applying it seamlessly to fast-paced engineering design requires experience; this is not an entry-level position. Experience in many of the following areas are critical to your ability to contribute at the right level:

You will have a minimum of 4+ years of industry experience, with a proven record of shipping high quality products
Detailed flow analysis via Computational Fluid Dynamics using packages such as Fluent, Star-CCM+, openFOAM, powerFlow.
Generative design of three-dimensional aerodynamic objects, using advanced surfacing techniques in packages such as CATIA or NX
Hands-on experimental aerodynamics, for example wind tunnel testing, using a variety of techniques including basic flow visualizations (surface oil flow, tufting), pressure measurements (e.g. pressure scanning, pressure sensitive paints), optical flow diagnostics (e.g. LDV, PIV) and load measurement
Use of low and mid fidelity tools for basic aircraft sizing, for example XFOIL, XROTOR, OpenVSP, RCAS
Fundamental understanding of a range of aero fundamentals, including: vortex dynamics, boundary layers, turbulence, finite wing theory, aircraft dynamics, three-dimensional flow separation, propeller theory, aeroacoustics, heat and mass transfer, internal flows, fan theory

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash range for this role is $185,000 to $255,000. 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!

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.