Embedded Software Engineer Intern (Fall 2026)

Join Zipline, the world's largest drone delivery service, as an Embedded Software Engineer Intern for Fall 2026. In this role, you will work on critical projects that advance our autonomous aircraft and ground systems. You will have the opportunity to design and develop software platforms, scale our flight and distribution center software, and achieve safety and reliability goals. This is a full-time, in-person internship at our South San Francisco office.

• Conception, development, and testing of embedded applications and drivers for hardware systems.
• Collaboration with cross-functional teams to design and implement solutions for complex engineering challenges.
• Ownership of significant projects, from system design to deployment, including RF radio test setups, firmware development, and telemetry systems.
• Do you love tinkering with mechanical and electrical devices and watching your code come to life? Does writing safety-critical low-level software intrigue you? Do you see your projects through from start to finish, regardless of what you’re working on?
• You've designed, built and/or deployed electromechanical systems or robots, inside or outside the classroom
• You’re familiar with basic electrical engineering concepts, such as reading schematics, debugging with an oscilloscope, and communication protocols (CAN, SPI, UART, etc)
• You’re comfortable working in one of C, C++, Python, or Rust, and have developed software for a real time operating system or embedded Linux
• Pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering. Must have at least completed the second year of your Undergraduate studies. Masters and PhD students are also eligible
• You are comfortable receiving feedback so that you can learn to write code that is efficient, easy-to-read, well-tested, has friendly APIs, and incurs minimal technical debt