Zipline · 21 hours ago
Senior Hardware Reliability Engineer - Design for Reliability
South San Francisco, California, USA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level
$150K/yr - $215K/yr
5+ years expZipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move, aiming to solve urgent access challenges through innovative logistics solutions. The Senior Hardware Reliability Engineer will be responsible for ensuring the reliability and safety of Zipline's drone-delivery systems by applying deep knowledge of failure phenomena and statistical modeling to enhance product performance.
DeliveryDronesElectric VehicleHome Health CareLogisticsRoboticsSupply Chain Management
Responsibilities
Define Quantitative Reliability Requirements
Translate system-level targets (availability, cost-per-delivery) into measurable reliability specs and operating stress profiles that can be tested
Mitigate Program, Operational, and Safety Risks
Lead DFMEA to identify failure modes early; apply analytical FTA to influence architecture for redundancy, fault tolerance, and fail-operational behavior
Use HALT, DOE, and rapid A/B testing to uncover design weaknesses and improve robustness, manufacturability, and maintainability
Predict Reliability Performance
Develop accelerated life tests using applied physics-of-failure to potential design risks using real-world data to forecast lifetime reliability and safety margins
Apply Bayesian statistics (survival analysis, Weibull analysis) to service and connected fleet data in order to predict failure rates as a function of time
Demonstrate and Verify Reliability
Author Design Verification Test plans, define acceptance criteria, and specific test parameters necessary to prove reliability requirements are met
Evaluate changes from previous testing, and where necessary, define revalidation and program release gates across iterative design cycles to ensure consistent reliability performance
Qualification
Required
BS/MS/PhD in Mechanical, Electrical, Materials Science, or related field, with 5+ years of experience in design, reliability, or validation engineering
Deep knowledge of the mechanisms of failure and how to prevent them through robust design
Practical experience designing and executing correlated lifetime testing: corrosion, heat, humidity, thermal cycling, and vibration testing
Proficiency in reliability statistics and modeling: (Weibull/survival analysis, DOE, FMEA, FTA, and reliability growth analysis)
Skilled in data analysis and scripting tools to analyze large vast datasets and forecast outcomes (Python, Reliasoft, Minitab, JMP, or MATLAB)
Preferred
Proven experience scaling complex safety-critical systems operating in harsh environments
Strong communication and leadership skills with a track record of influencing design, manufacturing, and operational decisions across mechanical, electrical, and software disciplines
Ability to partner with suppliers to ensure reliability requirements are understood, tested, and met
A proactive, systems-level mindset that drives issues to resolution and builds organizational reliability culture
Benefits
Equity compensation
Discretionary annual or performance bonuses
Sales incentives
Benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance
Paid time off
Company
Zipline
Zipline designs, manufactures, and operates drones to deliver vital medical products.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Zipline has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (54)
2024 (39)
2023 (29)
2022 (20)
2021 (16)
2020 (3)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$971MKey Investors
U.S. Department of StateThe Rise FundKatalyst Ventures
2025-11-25Grant· $150M
2023-04-28Series F· $330M
2021-06-30Series E· $250M
Leadership Team
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton
Co-founder & CEO
Keenan Wyrobek
Founder, CTO and Product Architect
Recent News
felicis.com
2025-12-26
Company data provided by crunchbase