Flight Test Operator, Esparto

Company: Zipline
Location: Esparto
Posted on: April 1, 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. About You and The Role As a Flight Test Operator, you will have the critical task of testing the new and existing systems we build and operate in order to ensure that we are developing safe and reliable systems. This may include preflighting and launching aircraft, doing repair and maintenance work on aircraft and ground systems, and performing tests on new hardware and software. You will be working to improve the process, building and testing of prototypes for our next-generation tech, and collecting data of various types. You will also be expected to provide detailed technical feedback and ideas to engineering and operations teams on how to make our existing and future systems safer and smarter. Your work will directly improve the reliable availability of medical products and supplies for patients at the hospitals and health centers that Zipline serves across the world. What You'll Do Fly - Assembling, preflighting, launching, and recovering unmanned aircraft in order to test and optimize Zipline's operational systems and validate new engineering changes as well as software and hardware in the early stages of development. Maintain - Maintaining the existing fleet of aircraft and ground equipment, as well as maintaining new systems we are building for function-specific flight tests. Test - Running tests to validate system improvements, new technology for performance and design validation, and new processes. Certify - Performing tests and demonstrations related to US FAA Type Certification. Improve - Looking for opportunities to continuously improve our processes, safety protocols, our hardware and software, and make operations easier and more efficient for operations centers around the world. You will be called upon to provide detailed feedback to design engineers. Grow - Supporting Zipline's efforts to scale our operations to hundreds of distribution centers around the world. Travel - Supporting flight operations at different test sites as needed. You may also do up to 25% domestic and international travel, surveying sites or training new flight operators on best practices. For certain roles, you will be responsible for identifying and scouting sites for field data collection campaigns in support of multiple teams and goals. Schedule - Flexibility to work an array of schedule structures including, but not limited to: day, swing, nights, weekends, rotational. What You'll Bring This role is right for you if: You enjoy work that gets you out from behind a desk, in the field, and working with our hardware and software in action. You have experience in commercial aviation or aviation maintenance (an A&P is not required but nice to have). You may have prior flight test or hobbyist flight experience with Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones, remote control aircraft, etc). You enjoy troubleshooting and are comfortable with electromechanical build and repair projects. You’re excited to work outdoors, at an open-air hangar in the rugged foothills of Northern California, and would be happy doing so for about 85% of the day. You thrive in an autonomous, unpredictable, and dynamic environment where you identify what needs to happen and get it done with very little oversight. You have the vigilance and focus to conduct extended daily flight operations in a safe manner and with a focus on optimizing on a daily basis. You lead by example, and enjoy the satisfaction of collaborating with a dedicated team on a common goal. You have great writing skills and don't let failures or progress go undocumented. You are meticulous and process-oriented by nature. You are able to lift up to 25kg objects regularly. Additional preferred experience includes: You have some experience with Unix/Linux based operating systems (command line experience is a strong plus). You have experience with camera systems, surveying, and aerial photography. You are excited about regularly traveling domestically and internationally. What Else You Need to Know Please note that: This is a full-time position Must be willing to work some nights/weekends. Must be a US citizen or Permanent Resident. Must be able to relocate to Yolo County, CA The starting cash range for this role is $34 - $40/ Hour. 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; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more. Zipline 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. We 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!

Keywords: Zipline, Vacaville , Flight Test Operator, Esparto, Engineering , Esparto, California