---
title: 'Senior/Staff Applied Aerodynamicist at Zipline'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-applied-aerodynamicist-zipline-south-san-francisco-california-qmn52dk9wzv7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Senior/Staff Applied Aerodynamicist at Zipline 

- **Company:** Zipline 
- **Location:** South San Francisco California, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-08-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://www.zipline.com/open-roles/7810206003?gh_jid=7810206003

## 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.

## 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)

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