Mechanical Engineer (RF Systems)

Join Zipline, a pioneering company in the field of drone delivery. As a Mechanical Design Engineer for RF Systems, you will be responsible for the physical architecture and mechanical design of antenna and RF assemblies used in our avionics systems. You will work closely with various teams, including RF, Electrical, EMC, Systems, Navigation, Flight Test, Manufacturing, and vehicle-structure teams. Your role will involve end-to-end mechanical design, translating requirements into measurable constraints, and ensuring RF performance remains repeatable across production variation and environmental exposure. This position is based in South San Francisco and requires regular hands-on work in the lab.

• Assumer la responsabilité de l'architecture physique et de la conception mécanique des antennes et des assemblages RF utilisés dans les systèmes d'avionique de Zipline.
• Collaborer étroitement avec les équipes RF, électriques, EMC, systèmes, navigation, essais en vol, fabrication et structure du véhicule pour garantir que les décisions mécaniques préservent les performances des antennes.
• Diriger la conception mécanique de bout en bout des antennes et des assemblages RF, y compris l'architecture, l'emballage, le CAD, les dessins, les spécifications, l'analyse des tolérances, les nomenclatures et la libération de production.
• Ability to reason about how antenna placement, radome properties, conductive structures, cable routing, grounding, and assembly variation affect RF performance
• Periodic off-hours support may be required during flight tests, certification campaigns, production ramps, or urgent field investigations
• Advanced CAD, GD&T, datum-strategy, drawing-release, and production-tolerance skills
• This role is based in South San Francisco and requires regular hands-on work in the lab. Travel to suppliers, manufacturers, antenna ranges, chamber facilities, and flight-test locations will be required
• Experience designing environmentally sealed hardware for vibration, shock, temperature cycling, moisture, contamination, and outdoor exposure
• Working knowledge of RF fundamentals, including antenna gain, radiation pattern, polarization, ground-plane effects, impedance, insertion loss, shielding, isolation, and link margin
• Experience working directly with suppliers and manufacturing teams to establish capable processes and improve yield, cost, and repeatability
• Experience building prototypes, test coupons, fixtures, and representative structures for mechanical and RF characterization
• Strong mechanical engineering fundamentals, including structures, vibration, fatigue, thermal design, material selection, sealing, tolerance analysis, and environmental protection
• Experience designing with RF-transparent plastics, elastomers, adhesives, coatings, metals, composites, and conductive carbon-fiber structures
• Track record of resolving difficult cross-disciplinary failures involving mechanical hardware, RF performance, electronics, manufacturing variation, or installation conditions
• Experience integrating coaxial cables, RF connectors, controlled-impedance flexes, shielding, grounding, and strain relief into compact mechanical assemblies
• Experience developing high-volume, connectorized antenna architectures that can be assembled and verified at end of line
• Familiarity with EMC design, regulatory certification, EIRP constraints, or international radio configurations
• Experience investigating GNSS desense or coexistence problems involving high-speed compute, cameras, motors, or switching power electronics
• Experience developing radomes, conformal antennas, composite-integrated antennas, ceramic patches, FPC antennas, or directional antenna modules
• Experience with anechoic chambers, over-the-air testing, antenna ranges, vector network analyzers, or RF survey testing
• Experience with aircraft, drones, robotics, automotive systems, or other mass- and volume-constrained wireless products
• Experience with GNSS, cellular, Wi-Fi, command-and-control, ADS-B, UWB, or multi-radio platforms