Aircraft Software Integration Intern (Spring 2027)

Zipline · 2027 Internships

Where: South San Francisco, California, USA
Posted: Sep 4

We're looking for a Autonomy Software Engineer Intern to join our team building integrated autonomy features and push them across the finish line into production. This role is not about building web apps or backend dashboards—it's about working at the frontier of autonomous flight: bridging mission logic, real-time systems, autonomy behaviors, and validation frameworks.

You’ll work across planning, perception, and controls subsystems, shaping how autonomous features like emergency landings, route adaptations, and dynamic delivery constraints behave in flight. Your work will integrate embedded aircraft software with simulation infrastructure, telemetry systems, and flight operations to ensure features launch with robust performance, measurable safety, and high availability.

What you'd do

Experience developing software in robotics, aerospace, autonomous vehicles, or other safety-critical embedded systems.
Experience in Rust, C++, or C
Strong systems-thinking mindset, with an interest to integrate cross-disciplinary software under tight constraints (e.g. timing, safety, power).
Hands-on experience with robotics testing, including simulation.
Ability and interest to work cross-functionally across different domains (hardware, software, cloud)
A go-getter attitude - motivation to get things and find the answers to make it happen

About Zipline · 2027 Internships

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.