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Senior Software Engineer - Rust Language Maintainer

Zipline

Zipline

Software Engineering
South San Francisco, CA, USA
USD 170k-210k / year + Equity
Posted on Sep 16, 2025

About Zipline

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.
Join Zipline and help us to make good on our promise to build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.

About You and The Role

Zipline’s software team delivers safety-critical software at lightning speed. A small team of engineers builds the tooling and standards that enable development to run like a well-oiled machine. In this role, you will work closely with engineers across autonomy, firmware, flight software, avionics, and simulation. You’ll be on the front lines—pairing with other software engineers daily, developing coding guidelines and standards, and ensuring they are applied consistently across our development workflow.

At times your work will be high-level, shaping strategic technical direction or identifying the right tools and standards to adopt. At other times, you’ll be deep in the codebase—writing and maintaining safety-critical Rust and C++ code, debugging challenging issues, and improving execution environments. Above all, you’ll be a trusted partner to other engineers, improving their experience while raising the bar on safety and quality.

What You'll Do

  • Pair daily with other software engineers to improve workflows and enforce coding guidelines
  • Own and evolve Zipline’s coding standards and development practices
  • Form and lead a Rust Language steering group
  • Write and maintain safety-critical Rust and C++ code
  • Drive improvements to CI/CD, build, and testing pipelines to keep development flowing smoothly
  • Collaborate with engineers across the org to deliver safe, reliable, and fast development workflows

What You'll Bring

  • 8+ years of experience in a software development role at engineering-led companies
  • Deep experience writing and maintaining safety-critical Rust or C++ code
  • Strong understanding of embedded execution environments (e.g., Nvidia Orin/Thor)
  • Excitement about having other engineers as your customer: you thrive on pairing, collaborating, and helping others succeed
  • Ability to develop and enforce coding guidelines and standards across diverse teams
  • A customer-centric mindset with the ability to embed quickly and work side-by-side with engineers

What Else You Need to Know

This role is an in-office opportunity based out of our South San Francisco HQ.
The starting cash range for this role is $170,000-210,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.
Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies.
We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!