Software Engineer, Airspace Platform

Zipline is expanding its autonomous delivery network and is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build software that enables autonomous aircraft to safely and efficiently operate in increasingly complex airspace. The role involves leading the design and delivery of airspace-management capabilities, building core services for shared-airspace coordination, flight deconfliction, and simulation, and translating safety and operational requirements into system designs. You will own projects across the software lifecycle and contribute to open-source and industry interoperability efforts.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of airspace-management capabilities for one of the world’s most active commercial drone networks
• Build core services for shared-airspace coordination, flight deconfliction, and simulation
• Translate safety, operational, and interoperability requirements into clear system designs and product decisions
• Design systems for correctness, resilience, testability, observability, and auditability
• Own projects across the software lifecycle, from technical discovery and architecture through implementation, validation, rollout, and operation
• Design APIs and data models that support coordination across internal systems and external airspace participants
• Contribute to relevant open-source projects and industry interoperability efforts
• Raise the engineering bar through technical leadership, thoughtful reviews, and mentorship

Requirements

• A track record of designing and delivering reliable software systems in complex or high-consequence environments
• Strong experience with distributed systems, service architecture, APIs, and data modeling
• Sound engineering judgment, including the ability to make and communicate tradeoffs under ambiguity
• Experience operating production services in a modern cloud environment; experience with AWS and Kubernetes is helpful
• A product mindset and empathy for operators, partners, and other users of the systems you build
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience owning technically complex projects from definition through production

Nice to have

• Safety-critical, security-sensitive, real-time, or other high-consequence systems
• Simulation, optimization, geospatial systems, robotics, autonomy, or aviation
• Interoperability standards or open-source development
• AWS and Kubernetes at production scale