Firmware Engineer Intern (Summer 2027)

The role

You will design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers. You will work alongside electrical, mechanical, embedded Linux, and systems engineers to turn hardware behavior and flight data into reliable software.

What you will do

• Design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers.
• Develop reliable Ethernet, serial, and other microcontroller communication interfaces.
• Define platform-level interfaces and reusable firmware components.
• Own the predictable and reliable performance of microcontroller systems and communication buses.
• Optimize real-time behavior including CPU utilization, memory usage, scheduling latency, timing jitter, and resource contention.
• Develop metrics, monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.
• Develop Rust-based tooling and software-in-the-loop simulations to test and validate firmware behavior.

Required qualifications

• Prior internship or design team experience.
• Experience with writing C or C++.
• Excellent grades in embedded systems classes.

Nice to have

• Rising seniors

Benefits

• Relocation support
• Housing stipend
• Overtime pay
• Paid sick time

Before you apply

• Candidates are limited to three (3) applications within a 30-day period.

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 food, medicine and essential goods.