Mechanical Engineer, RF Systems

About Zipline Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably.

Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth.

Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About You and The Role Zipline builds and operates autonomous delivery systems that depend on reliable communication, navigation, and surveillance links.

The performance of an RF system is inseparable from its mechanical implementation: antenna position, orientation, ground plane, surrounding structures, radome materials, feed routing, connector interfaces, shielding, tolerances, water exposure, and structural deformation can determine whether a link works reliably in the field. As a Mechanical Design Engineer for RF Systems, you will own the physical architecture and mechanical design of antenna and RF assemblies used across Zipline’s avionics systems. Your scope may include GNSS , cellular, Wi-Fi, command-and-control, ADS-B, and other current or future wireless systems.

You will work closely with RF, Electrical, EMC , Systems, Navigation, Flight Test, Manufacturing, and vehicle-structure teams. You are not expected to replace the RF electrical engineer; you are expected to understand RF behavior deeply enough to make mechanical decisions that preserve antenna and link performance from prototype through high-volume production and fleet deployment.

What You'Ll Do

Own end-to-end mechanical design for antenna and RF assemblies, including architecture, packaging, CAD, drawings, specifications, tolerance analysis, BOMs, and production release.

Requirements

into measurable mechanical constraints.

across vehicle structures and avionics assemblies. Design antenna mounts, radomes, housings, RF shields, feedline routing, connector interfaces, strain relief, grounding features, and serviceable module assemblies. Define mechanical shielding, seam, gasket, grounding, and bonding strategies that contain digital and power-system emissions while avoiding unintended antenna effects.

Partner with RF and Test engineers on measurements including S-parameters, VSWR , insertion loss, antenna efficiency, gain, radiation pattern, polarization, isolation, desense, and environmental performance. Create fixtures and representative structures that allow chamber and bench measurements to reproduce the installed mechanical configuration.