Lead, Avionics Technician

The role

You will build and lead a technician team responsible for prototype assembly, rework, integration, testing, and troubleshooting. You will manage team capacity, establish technical standards, and ensure engineering programs receive high-quality hardware.

What you will do

• Build, manage, and develop a high-performing team of avionics technicians.
• Hire technicians with electronics assembly, rework, integration, test, and troubleshooting skills.
• Set responsibilities, priorities, performance expectations, and development plans.
• Plan technician staffing and capacity across various programs.
• Own daily execution to ensure work is completed safely, correctly, and on schedule.
• Establish standards for soldering, crimping, harness assembly, inspection, ESD controls, test execution, documentation, and configuration control.
• Develop training and certification programs.
• Partner with cross-functional leads to anticipate demand and resolve constraints.
• Ensure drawings, work instructions, test procedures, and material kits are ready.
• Lead escalations involving difficult builds, failures, or workmanship issues.

Required qualifications

• Proven success managing and developing technicians who build and test complex electronics, avionics, robotics, or other high-reliability hardware.
• Experience hiring, onboarding, setting performance expectations, providing feedback, and developing technical career paths.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of electronics assembly, soldering, crimping, harnessing, rework, inspection, integration, and test.
• Ability to read electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, mechanical drawings, BOMs, and work instructions.
• Experience troubleshooting hardware using oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, power supplies, electronic loads, and logic analyzers.
• Demonstrated ability to plan team capacity, manage competing priorities, and deliver reliable execution.
• Experience establishing workmanship, safety, ESD, documentation, and configuration-control standards.
• Strong cross-functional communication.
• Willingness to remain technically engaged and work alongside the team.
• Ability to work in person in South San Francisco and travel occasionally.

Nice to have

• IPC J-STD-001, IPC-A-610, IPC/WHMA-A-620, or equivalent certification or training experience.
• Experience supporting aerospace, robotics, automotive, medical-device, or other safety-critical products.
• Experience with RF hardware, antennas, flex circuits, environmental testing, or electronics failure analysis.
• Familiarity with PLM, MES, inventory, issue-tracking, and test-data systems.

About the company

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. They design, build, and operate an autonomous logistics system to deliver critical supplies like food and medicine.