Process
I applied through a recruiter. The process took two weeks.
The interview process involves a phone screen, a 3+ hour take-home test, a presentation, and six interviews in total for the onsite. I don't usually do reviews, but this was one of the longest and most tedious interview processes that I went through for a company. And, at the end of the day, the team does not seem to know what exactly they are looking for in the candidate (or they aren't being fully transparent), since the reasons they provided for a rejection seemed hollow and disconnected from the whole process. Be prepared to be burnt out if you want to go through this in short order.
Furthermore, all the interviews required you to have a strong knowledge base on airplanes, aerodynamics, propulsion, etc. So if you are coming from an industry or background that is not in aerial vehicles, be prepared to work things out on the spot or read up a lot of these topics, especially if your role does not have a deep software focus. Their interviews are not really tailored to evaluating candidates for the skill sets required in the role that they have gained with experience in companies from similar industries, and they magically expect all candidates to know and speak their language.
Questions
I can't reveal the exact details, but the take-home test involved Python coding. Then there was a presentation and follow-up questions on that during the interview. Software design covered a sliding window and other topics mentioned above.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Zipline Senior Engineer role.
Success Rate
Zipline's interview process for their Senior Engineer roles is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Zipline's Senior Engineer interview process.
Zipline Work Experiences
- 5.0Good peopleSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSeptember 21, 2023Pros: Mission-oriented focus, scrappy start-up mentalityCons: Tight deadlines, distributed workforce, limited benefits
- 1.0Toxic CultureEng Lead • Current EmployeeJune 26, 2025Pros: The people you’ll work with are the smartest anywhere. The problems are genuinely interesting to work on.Cons: -leadership is toxic and burns strong performers out. If you’re good at what you do, they’ll work you non-stop. -no sense of sustainable culture, organizational development, or general respect for people’s time from leadership. -safety is marginalized in favor of moving fast, which is super dangerous given the product. -the culture of work is now “always on”, you’re expected to be ready to attend early morning meetings (even on the weekend) and work around the clock.
- 1.0Poor management and the unlimited PTO is limitedFirmware Engineer • Former EmployeeSouth San Francisco, CAJanuary 5, 2026Pros: -The drone is cool. -Many colleagues are nice.Cons: “Unlimited PTO” is a branding gimmick. In practice, it is tightly limited. The Head of Hardware Engineering sent a company-wide email to officially limit the so-called “unlimited PTO” to 3–4 weeks. Many colleagues wanted to take more than 20 days PTO, but their manager won't approve it. And it's very unfair that some manager obviously took more than 5 weeks PTO but didn't put it on the system. -Management consistently pressures employees to work through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s to hit arbitrary company goals. -Some engineers pitch designs they believe are “innovative,” only for those designs to be completely infeasible for mass production. -There is a culture of manufactured heroics. Some engineers ignore supplier management entirely, miss deadlines, then burn excessive money on quick-turn parts to “save” the schedule. Management celebrates this behavior. Firefighters get rewarded; fire prevention does not exist. Employees who managed everything well and not drama are never credited. -Leadership positions appear to be influenced by personal relationships rather than merit, even in cases of sustained poor performance. -Performance reviews happen every six months using a 1–5 scale where a 3 supposedly means “consistently meeting high expectations. This system is meaningless and demoralizing by design. -An employee was terminated because he needed time to support his ill wife. This company demonstrates a complete lack of ethics and humanity. -A senior TPM collected a high salary for years while contributing nothing beyond asking for status updates and forwarding them upward. -The office environment is physically depressing, with poor lighting that makes it feel like working in permanent darkness—both literally and mentally. -Many managers were hired from Tesla but lack even basic people-management skills. Financially set and complacent, they show no interest in self-improvement. -At least one manager has been effectively sidelined while his team continuously loses members, yet he remains employed purely because he manages upward well.
