Droid Autonomy Validation Intern (Spring 2026)

About Zipline

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 the first instant logistics system that serves all humans equally. Leveraging expertise in robotics and autonomy, Zipline designs, builds, and operates a fleet of cutting edge, autonomous delivery drones. We serve tens of millions of people around the world.

Joining Zipline’s Emerging Talent program as an intern is an opportunity to contribute to our promise of building a system that provides equitable access to critical healthcare supplies for millions of people. We believe that internships are more than just opportunities to learn by watching or doing low level tasks. We expect our interns to take on meaningful work that actively contributes to moving Zipline’s mission forward, while learning real-world skills that will serve them in their careers for the long term. 

Join us, and build the future of logistics with the best humans around!

About The Droid Autonomy Team

The Droid Autonomy team owns the entire autonomy stack behind droid package pickup and delivery. This includes perception (understanding the world), the state machine (executing behaviors), and goal planning (deciding where and how to deliver). It’s an extremely cross-functional team that brings together expertise in robotics, machine learning, planning, and systems engineering—working as one to make the droid a safe, reliable, and scalable real-world delivery system.

The Role

• Work hands-on with an autonomous robot operating in the real world — to help expand its capabilities for safer and more reliable deliveries.
• Analyze, validate real-world data to understand system performance and identify failure modes and come up with unique solutions.
• Design experiments and models that improve the robot’s ability to make reliable decisions in messy, unpredictable environments.
• Translate insights from validation into actionable improvements that directly impact how and where the robot can deliver.
• Collaborate closely with perception, autonomy, and flight testing teams to see how your work connects across the full robotics stack.
• Gain experience with the end-to-end process of deploying autonomy at scale—from data, to model, to validation, to live operations.
• Be part of an extremely motivated team that is delivering real-world solutions at scale, not just research prototypes.

What You'Ll Do

• Work with and iterate on a state-of-the-art autonomous system: analyze flight and perception data, extract key features of the droid’s performance, and identify what it takes to scale into new environments.Apply data analysis, statistics, and machine learning techniques to increase the reliability and robustness of the droid’s deliveries.Design and run validation experiments to measure success and failure rates under different real-world conditions (e.g., driveway geometry, car presence, time of day).Develop tools and pipelines to evaluate perception models, quantify uncertainty, and connect improvements directly to field performance.

What You'Ll Bring

• Currently pursuing a Master’s in CS, EE, Robotics, or a related field with a familiarity with learning-based perception..
• Fluent in Python plus solid software practices (willing to learn new languages and adapt).
• Statistical reasoning & validation mindset: able to design experiments, account for bias/variance, quantify confidence, and interpret results to guide decisions.
• Structured problem solver: can break ambiguous, real-world problems into hypotheses and executable plans; comfortable making and testing assumptions.
• Able to work in person at our office and thrive in a collaborative, hands-on environment.

What Else You Should Know

Our internships are full-time positions, in-person at our South San Francisco or Dallas office. We will host our Spring 2026 interns from January to April. 

The starting cash range for this internship is $44 - 48/ hour. 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, and working location. The total compensation package for each role may also include: a housing stipend; overtime pay; relocation support; paid sick time; and more. 

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

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!

Zipline is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your point of contact at Zipline know if you require any accommodations throughout your interview process.