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Autonomy Software Engineer at Zipline | South San Francisco

ZiplineSouth San Francisco, California, USA
On-site Full-time $200K/yr - $265K/yr

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Experience Level

Mid to Senior

Qualifications

Qualifications We are looking for a candidate with strong software engineering skills in Rust and C++, ideally with experience in real-time systems. An understanding of robotics or autonomous systems would be beneficial. You should also possess excellent problem-solving abilities, a keen attention to detail, and the capacity to work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.

About the job

About Zipline

Are you ready to make a significant impact? Zipline is dedicated to revolutionizing the delivery of goods across the globe. Our mission is to tackle the most pressing access challenges by creating the first instant delivery and logistics system that ensures equal service to all individuals, regardless of their location. From facilitating Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and aiding Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution to offering on-demand home deliveries for Walmart and enabling healthcare providers to deliver care right to homes in the U. S., we are reshaping logistics for businesses, governments, and consumers alike. Our technology, while intricate, is driven by a straightforward vision: to provide an instantaneous delivery service that brings what you need, when you need it. By leveraging advanced robotics and autonomy, we are not only decarbonizing logistics but also alleviating road congestion and minimizing fossil fuel use and air pollution, while ensuring equitable access for billions and fostering a more robust global supply chain.

About You & the Role

You will take ownership of the flight-critical runtime that maintains the safety of Zipline's aircraft, regardless of external challenges. You’ll design and implement the autonomy safety layer responsible for mission orchestration, fault detection and diagnosis, as well as executing mitigation and recovery strategies across planning, perception, and controls. This position involves deep systems work in Rust/C++ under stringent real-time constraints, requiring high-stakes design decisions that are validated through SIL/HIL and flight logs, elevating the reliability of a global, safety-critical fleet.

What You’ll Do

  • Design the mission/flight manager: Develop state machines and orchestration logic that dictate mission sequencing, safe-state transitions, and behavior gating under various constraints.

  • Own fault management end-to-end: Implement detection, isolation, mitigation, and recovery (FIMR) strategies for sensors, compute, communications, power, and actuation systems; ensure graceful degradation and service continuity.

  • Ship flight-critical Rust/C++ code: Create and maintain essential onboard components with robust observability (health, logs, metrics) and testability (deterministic replay, assertions, invariants).

  • Prove safety prior to flight: Define success criteria and develop tools—including scenario libraries, SIL/HIL, log-replay harnesses, and fault injection—to validate behavior across edge cases and long-tail scenarios.

  • Integrate across autonomy domains: Collaborate with planning, perception, and controls teams to establish interfaces, hazards, and assumptions necessary for seamless operation.

About Zipline

Zipline is at the forefront of transforming logistics and delivery systems globally, committed to equitable access and sustainability through innovative technology.

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