Staff Optomechanical Engineer

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Zipline

South San Francisco, California, USA

On-site

Posted April 7, 2026

Job Description

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.

We are seeking a Staff Optomechanical Engineer to lead end-to-end mechanical development for camera modules, camera brackets/mounts, and camera clearance (packaging) for drone/UAV applications. In this role, you will own mechanical architecture from concept through production, ensuring robust performance across vibration, shock, thermal, environmental exposure, and flight operations. You will partner closely with electrical, optical, firmware, manufacturing, and flight-test teams to deliver camera hardware that meets demanding weight, stiffness, alignment, reliability, and producibility targets.

What You'll Bring

End-to-End Mechanical Ownership

Own the complete mechanical development lifecycle for UAV camera hardware: requirements, concept, CAD, analysis, prototyping, test, design iteration,release, production support.
Translate system requirements (optical alignment, FOV, stabilization constraints, IP rating, mass properties, thermal limits) into mechanical designs and specifications.

Camera Modules & Packaging

Design mechanical solutions for camera modules (housing, lens/barrel interfaces, heat sinking, sealing, connectors/strain relief, EMI/ESD considerations in coordination with EE).

Drive packaging and clearance studies ensuring camera placement meets:
Field-of-view and occlusion constraints
Pitch/yaw/roll envelope
Assembly & serviceability
Own integration of camera hardware into primary structure defining datum schemes and tolerance stack-ups.

Brackets, Mounts, and Structural Design

Design lightweight, high-stiffness camera brackets/mounts optimized for drone mass constraints.
Develop robust designs for vibration/shock environments.
Ensure alignment stability over temperature, time, and mechanical loading.

DFM/DFA, Materials, and Manufacturing

Select materials and finishes appropriate for flight environments
Drive DFM/DFA for machining, sheet metal, die casting, injection molding, additive manufacturing, and composite integration as appropriate.
Create detailed drawings with GD&T, define critical-to-quality dimensions, and establish inspection strategies.
Partner with suppliers/CMs to refine designs for cost, yield, and assembly efficiency.

Analysis, Testing, and Validation

Plan and execute mechanical verification through in-house and CM test
Perform or guide FEA/CFD (static, modal, thermal) and correlate models to test data.
Lead root-cause investigations for mechanical failures and implement corrective actions.

goaidataproductdesign