Head of Embedded Software, Zipline
$180-230k
South San Francisco
3-5 days a week in office
Transforming the way goods move
Open for applications
Transforming the way goods move
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$180-230k
South San Francisco
3-5 days a week in office
1001+ employees
Company mission
To open up access to emergency medical care to everyone in the world.
Role
Who you are
- Demonstrated success as a “lead-of-leads” where you have inspired, managed and grown high-performing engineering teams to deliver embedded software for world first safety-critical products
- Deep technical expertise in embedded software engineering, with a track record of making impactful architectural-level contributions. We use Rust and C++ onboard, and python for tooling
- Effective communication and collaboration skills to explain and motivate technical vision, technical challenges, and solutions to fellow engineers and non-engineers alike
What the job involves
- In this role, you will lead the team responsible for the software stack from bare-metal through the operating system, firmware, peripheral drivers, core libraries, and the tools/test systems that enable Zipline to develop reliable safety-critical systems at high velocity
- This spans from our aircraft, to ground infrastructure, and hardware testers with the goal of ensuring our drones achieve the highest standards of performance and reliability in some of the toughest environments on Earth
- As team lead, you will report to the Head of Engineering
- Lead, mentor and grow several teams of talented embedded engineers and leaders, providing a clear vision and ambitious goals, all while maintaining a stringent focus on technical excellence
- Cultivate a high performance team culture that champions a bias to action and strives for radically simple designs
- Provide technical leadership in system level design by bringing expertise in either Linux, Microcontrollers, or Real-Time Operating Systems
- Collaborate across teams and disciplines to architect safety-critical systems, which include flight computers, radios, safety systems, communication buses, battery management and motor control systems
- Establish and enforce best practices for embedded software development, code review, and documentation
- Set the technical and product vision for the embedded team
- Work closely with engineering leaders across disciplines around the design of our avionics, our software development lifecycle, our test strategy, to ultimately build a cohesive product
Our take
Zipline is transforming the way goods move by creating the first logistics system that serves all humans equally via a drone delivery service. As the first emergency drone logistics operation, Zipline is fundamentally changing how we transport emergency medical supplies and has expanded into commercial deliveries. It's partnered with several major companies, including Walmart.
Zipline has an edge over potential future competitors as the company has thousands of hours and over 35 million miles of flight to prove the system is safe and effective. It’s also one of the first companies to receive a full commercial operating certificate, putting Zipline in a strong position to continuously branch out to other markets.
The unicorn company operates globally and has signed its first government contract with Rwanda to provide up to 2 million drone deliveries by 2029. It is also aiming to start commercial deliveries to individual households in the near future. With big companies such as Amazon and Walmart examining “instant” delivery options, Zipline has a proven track record and the equipment and logistics in place to provide such services. 2023 funding pushed Zipline's valuation to a staggering $4.2 billion, indicating a bright future.
Kirsty
Company Specialist
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2023
$330m
SERIES F
Jul 2021
$250m
SERIES E
Total funding: $813.7m
Company benefits
- Generous parental leave
- Generous vacation policy
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Monthly team events
- Healthcare, vision, and dental
- Healthy, delicious meals and snacks
- Dog-friendly offices
Company values
- Customer obsession - The standard of care
- Ownership - Getting the job done
- Transparency - Breeds trust
- Continuous improvement - Tackling hard problems
- Serve Your Species - Empowering one another
Company HQ
South San Francisco, CA
Articles
Founders
Having studied Economics and Biotechnology at Harvard, they worked for almost 11 months as a self-employed rock climber. They combined their academic and practical experience to co-found Zipline in July 2011.
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