{"id":3463086,"url":"https://alion.io/job/zipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer","title":"Senior/Staff Controls Engineer","company":{"id":15878,"name":"Zipline","domain":"zipline.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/zipline","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":88,"open_postings":15,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.467,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":58,"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"}},"role":"Robotics","role_family":"Robotics","seniority":"staff","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["South San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":180000,"max":230000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":230000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-07-20T20:15:18Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-21","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T06:34:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":104,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":104},"description":"About Zipline\nZipline 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. \nOur 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.\nOur 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.\nWe 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.\nAbout You and The Role \nZipline builds, manufactures, and operates autonomous delivery systems that move critical goods where they are needed. The Controls team develops the models, tools, and flight software foundations that allow aircraft to complete missions autonomously across changing conditions. As a Staff Controls Engineer, you will own system-performance analysis for vehicle designs and help turn flight and fleet data into better models, design decisions, and operational capability. You will work closely with controls, flight test, hardware, manufacturing, and customer-facing teams to identify where performance limits matter most and drive technical improvements.\nWhat You'll Do \nOwn dynamic models of complex vehicle systems and components within Zipline’s high-fidelity six-degree-of-freedom simulation.\nBuild controls algorithms that are robust, performant, fault tolerant and own the development, testing, analysis and deployment of the same.\nDefine analysis approaches that connect design choices, requirements, limitations, and environmental conditions to vehicle performance.\nEvaluate existing and future vehicle designs through simulation, flight-test data, and data from customer aircraft in the global fleet.\nImprove simulation fidelity by reconciling model predictions with observed flight behavior and identifying the highest-value gaps.\nLead technical recommendations for controls, vehicle, and system design improvements with software, hardware, flight test, and manufacturing partners.\nBuild reusable analysis tools that enable teams to investigate performance questions, compare design options, and make informed tradeoffs.\nTranslate operational and customer insights into engineering priorities that improve the reliability and capability of the logistics network.\nWhat You'll Bring\nDemonstrated expertise in controls, flight dynamics, system identification, or modeling of complex physical systems.\nExperience developing and using high-fidelity simulations to evaluate system performance and guide engineering decisions.\nExperience analyzing experimental or flight-test data and using evidence to validate models or improve designs.\nAbility to lead ambiguous technical problems from framing through analysis, recommendation, and cross-functional execution.\nStrong engineering judgment about model assumptions, uncertainty, validation limits, and design tradeoffs.\nClear written and verbal communication skills for explaining technical findings to engineering and operational partners.\nComfort working closely with flight-test teams, global fleet data, and customer context to understand real-world system behavior.\nWhat Else You Need To Know \nThe starting cash range for this role is $180,000 - $230,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.\nZipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.\nWe value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!\nVoluntary Self-Identification\nFor government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.\nAs set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5951,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Drones & UAVs","Delivery","Logistics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-29T14:36:18Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 63 · green card filings: 13","filings_12m":63,"filings_prev_12m":47,"green_card_filings_12m":13,"median_offered_wage_usd":170658,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":28}],"liveness":{"score":26,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.719,"p_room":0.36,"age_days":104,"expected_fill_days":58,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:tail","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":230000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/zipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/zipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-02T08:12:08Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":11409,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-03T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":15878},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=15878"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fzipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fzipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fzipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/zipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fzipline-seniorstaff-controls-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3463086}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"zipline.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3463086},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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