Flight Test Engineer, DoorDash Air

About the Team

DoorDash Labs, established in 2018, serves as the innovation hub for DoorDash, focusing on developing automation and robotics solutions to enhance last-mile logistics. The team's mission is to create technologies that support and augment human networks, aiming to improve efficiency for Dashers, merchants, and consumers alike. We’re ruthlessly focused on business impact. We are a highly senior team composed of former pioneers from a variety of different robotics industries. As of 2025, DoorDash has completed 10B lifetime deliveries. We’re focused on how to do the next 10B even better.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly motivated Flight Test Engineer to plan, execute, and analyze flight tests for our next-generation delivery aircraft. In this role, you will turn engineering questions into safe, well-instrumented test plans, run them in the field, and turn the resulting data into clear answers for the design and systems teams. You will be the primary bridge between engineering and flight operations, owning test objectives, instrumentation, test safety, and data quality across rapid test campaigns. The ideal candidate combines strong flight-test fundamentals with practical software skills and a safety-first, collaborative mindset.

Responsibilities

• Plan, scope, and execute flight tests to evaluate vehicle performance, control behavior, and system reliability, ensuring results align with engineering and operational goals.
• Act as the primary interface between engineering and flight test operations, translating technical requirements into test objectives and ensuring effective feedback loops from the field.
• Analyze flight test data to assess vehicle dynamics, control performance, and subsystem interactions, providing actionable insights and recommendations to design and systems teams.
• Develop and maintain Python- and SQL-based analysis tools for flight data visualization, trend detection, and performance assessment, supporting rapid iteration across test campaigns.
• Use SIL and HIL environments to validate software updates, control algorithms, and sensor integrations to derisk flight test.
• Identify and quantify failures, performance deviations, and reliability trends from test data to drive root cause analysis and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to the creation of test plans, procedures, and reports, maintaining traceability to system-level and performance requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or a related engineering discipline.
• Strong foundation in flight test engineering, including test planning, instrumentation, flight test data reduction, and safe test execution.
• Proficiency in Python and SQL for data analysis, tooling, and automation, with experience building reusable libraries or analysis frameworks.
• Comfortable with Git-based version control and collaborative software development workflows.
• Familiarity with C++ codebases - primarily reading and reviewing embedded or autonomy code - is a plus.
• Experience with electric aircraft systems, including battery modeling, motor performance characterization, or electric propulsion integration, is highly valued.
• Ability to support adjacent disciplines such as aerodynamics, GNC, or wind tunnel testing, contributing to a collaborative, cross-functional engineering environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to distill complex test data into actionable engineering insights.

Pay

The national base pay range for this position within the United States, including Illinois and Colorado, is $159,800—$235,000 USD. The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within this range and is determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes opportunities for equity grants.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• 401(k) plan with employer matching.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Wellness benefits and commuter benefits match.
• Paid time off and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable laws (e.g., Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act).
• 11 paid holidays.
• Disability and basic life insurance.
• Family-forming assistance and a mental health program.
• For salaried roles: flexible paid time off/vacation, plus 80 hours of paid sick time per year.
• For hourly roles: vacation accrued at about 1 hour for every 25.97 hours worked (e.g., about 6.7 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 3.4 hours/month if working 20 hours/week), and paid sick time accrued at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (e.g., about 5.8 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 2.9 hours/month if working 20 hours/week).