Embedded Software Engineer Intern (Spring 2027)

Zipline is looking for an Embedded Software Engineer Intern to join the Embedded Systems team, working on autonomous aircraft and ground systems. The intern will own significant technical projects, such as developing firmware for real-time coprocessors, building telemetry systems, and prototyping perception systems. They will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, test, and deploy software that ensures reliable and safe drone delivery operations. The role is full-time and in-person at the South San Francisco office for the Spring 2027 term.

Responsibilities

• Embedded interns own a variety of big problems integral to our system! Examples of previous projects included:
• Building an RF radio test setup to validate antenna performance of the flight compute at the production end-of-line. Responsibilities include owning the entire system—from RF signal injection, testing, and validation, to developing manufacturing software test suites, integrating with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and leveraging simulation to model and measure worst-case scenarios.
• Develop firmware for a real-time coprocessor that manages high-frequency signals and I/O expansion for the Linux camera subsystem. Own the overall system design, contribute to board design revisions, and validate signal integrity, jitter, and clock alignment.
• Building a high data rate voltage and current telemetry system that runs continuously in our RTOS using ADCs, I2C devices and GPIO interrupts. Testing this feature rigorously, deploying it to production globally, building data analysis tools to verify that the feature is working properly, and using this data to root-cause tricky failures to improve the reliability of our systems.
• Rapidly iterating on the concept of a new perception system, integrating compute modules and sensor prototypes to fly a proof of concept ASAP and de-risk key aspects of the approach.
• Working with operations teams to identify ways to improve our ground systems behavior to enable faster aircraft launch and landing. Prioritizing changes by obtaining engineering leadership buy-in, and implementing them by using a variety of bench-top and real flight-test methods to verify the code. Ultimately, rolling out the update to global operations!

Requirements

• Must have at least completed the second year of your Undergraduate studies. Masters and PhD students are also eligible.
• Pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering
• You've designed, built and/or deployed electromechanical systems or robots, inside or outside the classroom.
• You’re comfortable working in one of C, C++, Python, or Rust, and have developed software for a real time operating system or embedded Linux.
• You are comfortable getting feedback so that you can learn to write code that is efficient, easy-to-read, well-tested, has friendly APIs, and incurs minimal technical debt
• You’re familiar with basic electrical engineering concepts, such as reading schematics, debugging with an oscilloscope, and communication protocols (CAN, SPI, UART, etc).

Benefits

• The hourly rate for this internship is $54 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.