Lead Engineering Technician

Job overview

The Lead Engineering Technician role is onsite in South San Francisco, CA. Compensation is stated as a starting cash range of $120,000–$150,000 per year. Zipline operates an autonomous drone delivery system that delivers food, medicine, and other essential goods. The lead guides hands-on aircraft and hardware builds, integration, validation, troubleshooting, and recovery while managing technician execution and capability. The role helps deliver safe, traceable, high-quality hardware for validation, production, remanufacturing, and field operations.

What you'll do

• Lead electromechanical builds, integration, validation, troubleshooting, rework, and recovery
• manage, hire, onboard, schedule, coach, and develop Engineering Technicians
• set daily priorities and allocate capacity
• confirm hardware, tooling, documentation, and materials are ready
• coordinate with engineering, production, supply chain, and field operations
• maintain safety, quality, documentation, traceability, and configuration-control standards.

What we're looking for

Skills & competencies

lead engineering technician

electromechanical hardware

aircraft builds

drone delivery

hardware integration

validation

troubleshooting

team leadership

south san francisco ca

zipline

$120k–$150k

aerospace

robotics

production support

Work arrangement

• Weekend coverage required

Why this role

Requires 6+ years building complex electromechanical hardware and experience leading technicians or technical teams. The role combines hands-on build-floor work with direct team management.

About the employer

Zipline is hiring for this role. Industry: Engineering Services. Sector: 54.