Service Engineer I

About the role

The Service Engineer I on Zipline’s Service Operations team provides first-level technical support for grounded aircraft, droids, docks, and related operational systems. The primary responsibility is to help return assets to service quickly, safely, and consistently by following approved troubleshooting guides, diagnostic workflows, and escalation procedures.

Responsibilities

• Support asset recovery and airworthiness
• Use approved troubleshooting guides, checklists, diagnostic tools, and escalation paths to help return grounded assets to service safely and efficiently
• Execute first-level troubleshooting
• Work through step-by-step troubleshooting workflows created by Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Maintenance, and Technical Writing teams
• Ensure required steps are completed and documented before escalating issues
• Triage incoming issues
• Review tickets, alerts, logs, and operational reports to understand the issue, determine severity, and prioritize work based on safety, customer impact, and operational need
• Escalate clearly and effectively
• Identify when an issue requires support from Service Engineer II, Engineering, Maintenance, or Support Operations. Provide clear context, completed troubleshooting steps, relevant logs, and recommended next actions during escalation
• Create work orders and support smooth handoffs when physical inspection, repair, replacement, or maintenance activity is required
• Document troubleshooting activity
• Accurately record actions taken, outcomes, unresolved symptoms, and lessons learned in the appropriate systems. Ensure documentation supports operational traceability, shift handoffs, and regulatory requirements
• Provide feedback to Technical Writing, Engineering, and Maintenance teams when guides are unclear, outdated, incomplete, or difficult to execute in real operational conditions
• Contribute to continuous improvement
• Identify recurring issues, documentation gaps, tooling friction, and opportunities to make first-level troubleshooting faster, clearer, and more repeatable

Requirements

• Strong execution and follow-through
• Technical curiosity
• Operational discipline
• Clear communication
• Basic troubleshooting ability
• Comfort with ambiguity
• Documentation mindset
• Team-first approach

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in one or more of the following areas is helpful, but not required:
• 2+ years experience with systems thinking
• Bachelor's degree or higher
• Experience working with ticketing systems, incident management tools, ERP systems, fleet management tools, or operational dashboards
• Experience following technical documentation, standard operating procedures, maintenance instructions, or troubleshooting guides
• Exposure to aircraft, drones, robotics, electromechanical systems, logistics systems, or complex operational environments
• Experience working in a 24/7 shift-based operations environment
• Experience providing feedback to improve technical documentation, training materials, standard operating procedures, or troubleshooting guides
• Basic familiarity with logs, telemetry, dashboards, or diagnostic tools