Senior-Staff Software Engineer - Embedded Platform (Middleware)

Responsibilities

• Design and develop embedded middleware and platform services for autonomous aircraft systems
• Contribute to core platform capabilities including:
• interprocess communication (IPC)
• logging and observability infrastructure
• communication bridges
• over-the-air (OTA) update systems
• service lifecycle and reliability infrastructure
• Build scalable and reliable embedded systems that support an increasingly complex flight software ecosystem
• Collaborate with teams across the Flight Software organization to define interfaces, improve platform usability, and support integration efforts
• Write high-quality production software in Rust and C++
• Investigate and debug complex system-level issues across software and hardware boundaries
• Improve system performance, reliability, and operational visibility
• Participate in design reviews and contribute to technical direction for platform infrastructure
• Help establish and maintain strong engineering practices around testing, observability, and maintainability

Requirements

• Required
• 5-12 years of experience developing embedded or systems software
• Strong programming skills in Rust, C++, or similar systems programming languages
• Experience working in embedded Linux environments
• Understanding of systems-level concepts such as:
• concurrency and synchronization
• networking
• IPC mechanisms
• distributed or multi-process systems
• Experience designing and delivering reliable software systems
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively across teams and technical domains
• Preferred
• Experience in safety-critical or high-reliability industries such as aerospace, automotive, robotics, industrial systems, or medical devices
• Experience with autonomous systems or robotics
• Familiarity with OTA update systems or device management infrastructure
• Experience with observability, telemetry, or logging systems
• Familiarity with Linux internals and embedded networking stacks
• Experience optimizing performance and reliability in resource-constrained systems
• What Else You Need to Know

Benefits

Additional Information

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 We are looking for Embedded Software Engineers to help build and evolve the embedded platform powering autonomous aircraft operating in safety-critical environments. This role sits within the Embedded Platform team, which develops the foundational middleware and infrastructure used throughout the flight software stack. Our systems enable reliable communication, observability, deployment, and coordination between distributed onboard services running on embedded Linux systems. You will work closely with teams across the Flight Software organization to design, implement, and scale critical platform capabilities that support autonomy, reliability, and operational safety. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy solving difficult systems problems and building robust infrastructure in embedded environments.

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