Senior / Staff Mechanical Design Engineer, Battery and Power Electronics

Zipline is seeking a Senior or Staff Mechanical Design Engineer to lead the mechanical design of battery and power electronics systems for autonomous delivery aircraft. You will own hardware from concept through production, including battery enclosures, power electronics housings, busbars, and power distribution systems. The role involves balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost while partnering with cross-functional teams. Senior and Staff levels differ by scope, with Staff defining technical direction across programs.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of mechanical hardware from requirements → design → analysis → prototype → validation → release → production sustainment.
• Design battery enclosures, power electronics housings, busbars, and power distribution hardware that meet structural, thermal, EMI, cost, mass, and manufacturability requirements.
• Develop mechanical architectures that satisfy vibration, shock, thermal, overpressure, ingress protection, and safety requirements for flight-critical systems.
• Produce and defend engineering analyses including trade studies, tolerance stacks, load paths, hand calculations, bolted joint analysis, FEA, and failure mode assessments that reduce technical risk and support design decisions.
• Create production-ready CAD assemblies, detailed drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing documentation for assemblies ranging from 20–100+ components. Lead design reviews, DFM activities, and first article inspections.
• Develop and execute verification plans covering environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, and EMI/EMC testing. Design supporting fixtures, analyze results, and drive corrective actions through design improvements.
• Lead supplier selection, qualification, and production handoff by incorporating DFM feedback, defining inspection criteria, reducing manufacturing risk, and resolving supplier quality issues that impact production or field operations.
• Partner closely with Systems, Electrical, Software, Reliability, Manufacturing, Integration & Test, Supply Chain, and Field Operations to align requirements, manage technical tradeoffs, and remove program execution risks.
• Translate prototype designs into scalable production hardware that achieves target cost, manufacturing yield, assembly efficiency, and field reliability.
• Mentor engineers (Senior) or establish engineering standards, lead technical programs, and provide technical leadership across organizations (Staff). Serve as a technical authority during design reviews, postmortems, and field failure investigations.

Requirements

• 5–15+ years of mechanical or electromechanical product development experience delivering complex hardware from concept through NPI and production (experience level used to determine Senior vs. Staff).
• Demonstrated ownership of multiple electro-mechanical products through design, validation, manufacturing, and supplier transfer.
• Expert CAD and documentation skills, including ownership of complex 3D assemblies and production drawings for 20–100+ part systems. Experience with NX, SolidWorks, or equivalent.
• Strong engineering fundamentals including GD&T, tolerance analysis, hand calculations (beam bending, buckling, bolted joints), FEA, thermal analysis, and design-for-manufacturing and assembly.
• Experience planning and executing environmental, vibration, fatigue, thermal, and reliability testing, with the ability to design test fixtures and interpret results.
• Demonstrated supplier development and DFM experience, with a track record of reducing NPI cycle time, manufacturing defects, or supplier quality issues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present technical tradeoffs, influence stakeholders, and make sound engineering decisions under uncertainty.

Benefits

• The starting cash range for this role is $160,000 - $240,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.