Simulation Software Engineer

Responsibilities

• We are seeking a Simulation Software Engineer to build and evolve the core infrastructure that validates our entire robotics fleet software
• This is not a standard simulation role; it is deep, systems-level software engineering focused on creating high-performance, high-fidelity digital twins that enable deterministic, faster-than-realtime testing of all autonomous safety-critical flight logic, cloud connectivity, and vehicle coordination across thousands of mission scenarios
• This role is absolutely critical for the safety and reliability of Zipline’s real-world Physical AI deployment
• If you are driven by the challenge of integrating complex flight software with synthetic environments, real hardware, and advanced time-manipulation to rigorously test an autonomous system, we want to hear from you!
• This is not a niche role within Autonomy—it’s a company-wide enabler
• If your passion lies in building infrastructure that unlocks fast, safe iteration across multiple engineering domains, this role is built for you
• Build the simulation platform:
  Develop the reusable infrastructure that powers simulation across the company, including execution, scheduling, orchestration, APIs, and developer tooling
• Integrate with production software:
  Build interfaces that allow flight software, cloud services, embedded software, and hardware to execute inside deterministic virtual environments
• Scale simulation:
  Scale from single-vehicle debugging to fleet-scale testing across thousands of scenarios in CI
• Partner with engineers:
  Support teams building new tests, debugging failures, improving workflows, and expanding simulation capabilities
• The Flight Software team uses simulation to validate onboard mission logic
• The Test team uses it to explore pre-flight conditions and troubleshoot real-world anomalies
• The Cloud team uses it to model server interactions like map updates, delivery instructions, and real-time comms
• Full system Hardware-In-The-Loop testing framework uses simulation for flight software validation
• The Embedded and Ground teams use it to validate system integration, safety cases, and operational resilience
• And the CI/CD pipeline relies on simulation to catch regressions before they ever reach a flight zone

Bonus:
Experience scaling simulation in CI, HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop), or formal verification methods.
A passion for building enabling infrastructure and tools that allow Zipline engineers to simulate faster, test earlier, and deploy safer.
Expertise in concepts like time synchronization, inter-process communication, and determinism within a systems-level or real-time context.
Demonstrated ability to reason about large software systems, APIs, concurrency, debugging, and software architecture.
Familiarity with physical modeling, kinematics, dynamics, or robotics simulation concepts.
Deep experience architecting, building, or maintaining complex robotics, aerospace, or distributed systems simulations/digital twins.
4+ years of professional software engineering experience in C++ or Rust (Rust experience is a strong plus).