---
title: 'Hardware Test Intern (Summer 2027) at Zipline'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-test-intern-summer-2027-zipline-south-san-francisco-vb1bn844pqw2'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-08'
---

# Hardware Test Intern (Summer 2027) at Zipline 

- **Company:** Zipline 
- **Location:** South San Francisco, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-08-19
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-08
- **Apply:** https://www.zipline.com/open-roles/7903483003?gh_jid=7903483003

## 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 the Hardware Test Team

The Hardware Test Team plays a critical role in ensuring the performance, reliability, and safety of the systems that power Zipline’s life-saving delivery drones. As a cross-functional group supporting multiple hardware engineering domains, we design and execute rigorous testing strategies across avionics, power systems, mechanical assemblies, sensors, and other mission-critical components. Operating at the intersection of hardware and software, we validate integrated systems under real-world and simulated conditions to ensure our products perform flawlessly in some of the most demanding environments on Earth. Our work directly advances Zipline’s mission to provide fast, dependable access to essential medical and commercial supplies around the globe.

## The Role

In developing a test asset, you will gain a deep understanding of the system you are working on—whether that includes embedded electronics, avionics, sensing systems, power distribution, mechanical actuation, or full subsystem integrations. Building these test assets often involves designing and constructing mechatronic systems as well as developing complex automation scripts that coordinate sensors, actuators, and instrumentation with operator safety in mind.

You will own your test asset end-to-end: from early concept and system definition, to implementation, data collection, analysis, and ultimately the recommendations that inform engineering decisions. If you are excited by hands-on engineering, solving ambiguous technical problems, and building tools that raise the bar for hardware quality, this role is for you.

## What You'll Do

- Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to define clear component and tester requirements

- Validate the design and assembly of components ranging from circuit boards to large mechanical or electromechanical assemblies

- Streamline testing, data collection, analysis, and reporting

- Gain deep expertise in the components or systems under test to understand their expected behavior under a variety of operating conditions

- Own a test asset through its entire lifecycle—from planning and implementation to system validation, troubleshooting, and analysis of results

## What You'll Bring

- Ability to interpret datasheets and write basic drivers for new components

- Understanding of fundamental electrical and/or mechanical engineering principles

- Experience working with common electrical test equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, power supplies, etc.)

- Nice to have: Experience programming in Python, with foundational knowledge of embedded C; Experience developing software that interfaces directly with hardware and instrumentation

What Else You Should Know

Our internships are full-time positions, in-person at our South San Francisco or Dallas office. We will host our Summer 2027 interns from May/June to August/September.

The hourly rate for this internship is $40 per hour. Additional benefits may include relocation support, a housing stipend, overtime pay, paid sick time, and other benefits, where applicable and subject to local requirements.

Candidates are limited to three (3) applications within a 30-day period.

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.

Zipline is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your point of contact at Zipline know if you require any accommodations throughout your interview process. 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.

## About Zipline 

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Zipline is an American robotics company that operates the world’s largest autonomous drone delivery service, transporting medical supplies, food, and retail goods across multiple continents.
- **Entity Type**: Private (early-stage startup)
- **Headquarters**: South San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: March 2014
- **Founders**: Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Keenan Wyrobek, Ryan Oksenhorn, William Hetzler

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Logistics / Drone delivery
- **Target customers**: B2B (healthcare systems, governments, retailers like Walmart and Chipotle) and B2C (home delivery via the Zipline app)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Build the first logistics system that serves all people equally” – initially focused on saving lives by delivering blood and medicine to remote communities, now expanded to instant urban delivery.

## Products & Services
- **Platform 1 (P1)**: Long-range, rural delivery drone. Carries up to 4 lbs, roundtrip range 120+ miles, cruise speed 60 mph. Uses parachute delivery. Designed for enterprise, government, and healthcare supply chains.
- **Platform 2 (P2)**: Urban/suburban home delivery drone. Carries up to 8 lbs, service radius 10 miles (or 24 miles one way), cruise speed 70 mph. Delivers via a tether from up to 300 ft, allowing contactless drop-off. Launched in 2025 and used for food, retail, and health products.
- **Zipping Points**: Modular ground stations that allow businesses to load orders onto drones without specialized equipment.
- **FlightIQ**: Advanced onboard autonomy and perception suite for safe navigation and delivery.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: 2 million commercial deliveries completed (as of January 2026) and 130 million autonomous miles flown.[wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipline_(drone_delivery_company))[zipline-fact-sheet](https://www.zipline.com/about/zipline-fact-sheet)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not disclosed in available sources. Key partners include Walmart, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Crumbl, Blaze Pizza, Wendy’s, and many other restaurant brands. In healthcare, works with more than 5,000 hospitals and health centers.
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded into urban home delivery in 2025 (P2) with service in Pea Ridge, Arkansas and 20+ communities in Dallas-Fort Worth. Obtained FAA authorization for beyond visual line of sight operations. Reports 56% decrease in maternal mortality and 66% decrease in missed malaria treatments in served regions.[zipline-fact-sheet](https://www.zipline.com/about/zipline-fact-sheet)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Autonomous drone fleet**: One of the world’s largest commercial deployments of autonomous robots, with custom software running on Nvidia chips.
- **FAA approval**: All operations and aircraft are FAA-approved, including pioneering use of Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM).
- **Quieter than road vehicles**: Drones hover high and descend on a tether, generating noise lower than common neighborhood sounds.
- **Extensive testing**: One of the largest aviation testing campaigns, with operations in rain, wind, and storms.
- **Integrated logistics platform**: Beyond drones, Zipline provides warehousing, inventory management, cold chain storage, and fulfillment software.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling the Platform 2 urban delivery network across the U.S., particularly through partnerships with major retailers and restaurants.
- Deepening healthcare impact by expanding into new countries and product categories (prescriptions, groceries, convenience items).
- Continuing to reduce delivery times and environmental footprint (0 emissions per delivery, compared to automotive delivery).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture values**: Ownership & Accountability, Direct Feedback & Communication, Continuous Improvement, Customer Obsession, Servant Leadership (as stated on careers page). Emphasis on “Make it matter” and mission-driven work.[careers](https://www.zipline.com/careers)
- **Work environment**: Headquartered in South San Francisco with hardware and software teams. The company assembles its drones in America. Likely on-site given the hardware focus; remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated.
- **Impact**: Opportunity to work on life-saving technology (60,000+ lives saved) and shape the future of instant logistics.
- **Engineering culture**: Build and iterate on autonomous systems, airspace deconfliction, and large-scale robotics deployments.

## Sources
1. [Zipline Careers](https://www.zipline.com/careers)
2. [Zipline Homepage](https://www.zipline.com/)
3. [About Zipline](https://www.zipline.com/about)
4. [Zipline Fact Sheet](https://www.zipline.com/about/zipline-fact-sheet)
5. [Wikipedia - Zipline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipline_(drone_delivery_company))
6. [Greenhouse Careers Page](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/flyzipline)

## Other roles at Zipline 

- [Head of Maintenance, Australia](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-maintenance-australia-zipline-lake-macquarie-new-south-wales-qysacdfrnvht) — Lake Macquarie New South Wales, Australia
- [AI Tooling Software Engineer - Data Platform, Autonomy](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-tooling-software-engineer-data-platform-autonomy-zipline-south-san-francisco-2mjjhbvawz6e) — South San Francisco, CA
- [Director of Cybersecurity](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-cybersecurity-zipline-south-san-francisco-nmh0hhqcy3n3) — South San Francisco, CA
- [Director of Country Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-country-operations-zipline-kigali-1c6qm3vrrfgv) — Kigali, Rwanda
- [Director of Maintenance Operations, East](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-maintenance-operations-east-zipline-atlanta-5xrrmzq9p9ec) — Atlanta, GA / Tampa, FL
- [Maintenance Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/maintenance-manager-zipline-atlanta-q78bd1k2sebe) — Atlanta, GA / Tampa, FL
- [Partner Success Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/partner-success-manager-zipline-tampa-cz7yb083vt77) — Tampa, FL
- [User Experience Designer: Hardware Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/user-experience-designer-hardware-systems-zipline-south-san-francisco-a6y0gfs5b1js) — South San Francisco, CA
- [Automation Engineer, Production Equipment](https://feeny.ai/job/automation-engineer-production-equipment-zipline-south-san-francisco-hw3fx6kvshzj) — South San Francisco, CA
- [Controls Engineer, Production Equipment](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-production-equipment-zipline-south-san-francisco-7pc8chtmv6bq) — South San Francisco, CA