Senior Motion Planning Software Engineer
Zipline · South San Francisco, California, USA
Posted about 3 months ago · $190,000 - $230,000
or apply directly on Zipline 's site. We never take the application ourselves.
Is this posting real?
- This role has been open
- 80 days Zipline 's roles stay open a median of 78 days
- Reposted
- No
- Salary listed
- Yes 51% of Zipline 's roles list one
- Ghost-job risk at Zipline
- high 338 stale, 6 reposted of 342 open
- Hiring momentum
- 454 roles opened in the last 90 days ↑ up vs. the prior 90 days
- Last confirmed on the employer's board
- 2026-10-23
Measured from postings appearing on and disappearing from Zipline 's own greenhouse board since 2026-08-03. Full hiring picture for Zipline .
About this role
As a Senior Motion Planning Software Engineer at Zipline, you will develop real-time trajectory generation and decision-making systems for autonomous flight, focusing on optimizing safety, energy, time, and reliability. You will work on planning in uncertain environments, design safety-critical software, and validate systems through simulations and real fleet data analysis. This role is crucial as Zipline scales its operations to tens of thousands of drone deliveries in urban areas.
- benefits
- 3/5
- freshness
- 1/5
- career value
- 5/5
- role clarity
- 5/5
- pay transparency
- 5/5
Scored from the posting itself — how clearly the role is described, how much it says about pay and benefits, and how recently it was listed. Not a judgement of Zipline as an employer.
What you need
- Master's degree in Computer Science or related field
- 3+ years of experience building software for safety-critical systems (aerospace/AV/robotics)
- Strong in Rust/C++/C for real-time, fault-tolerant code on embedded/Linux
- Depth in planning & search (e.g. A*/ anytime / RRT*/sampling), trajectory optimization/MPC—shipped on real robots/vehicles
- Hands-on with simulation at scale, SIL/HIL, log replay, and metrics-driven validation
- Evidence of shipping production-grade autonomy through ambiguous, noisy conditions
What you get
- Starting cash range of $190,000 - $230,000
- Equity compensation
- Discretionary annual or performance bonuses
- Sales incentives
- Medical, dental and vision insurance
- Paid time off
Worth weighing
- The role involves working with complex systems and may require navigating ambiguous conditions
- No specific mention of remote work flexibility or work-life balance
- The cash range provided is a target and final pay may vary based on multiple factors
Summarised from Zipline 's posting. Read the full original.
Listed by Zipline on their greenhouse job board, last confirmed open on 2026-10-23. PitchMeAI is not the employer.
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