Do you want to change the world? Zipline uses drones to deliver critical and lifesaving medicine to thousands of hospitals serving millions of people in multiple countries. Our mission is to provide every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies. Join Zipline and help us make this a reality for billions of people.
About the Role
As the Quality Inspector Supervisor at Zipline, you will lead our team of inspectors who safeguard the quality of all incoming parts and components that make our aircraft safe and reliable. You will be responsible for training, developing, and managing a team of inspectors, ensuring inspection best practices are upheld, and driving continuous improvements in how we assess hardware quality.
You will collaborate closely with the material planning team to align inspection priorities with production needs and with Quality Engineering to support root-cause analysis and corrective actions. This role requires a strong technical background in GD&T and inspection tooling, as well as excellent communication and task management skills to ensure the team’s success.
This position is ideal for someone who enjoys coaching others, thrives in a fast-moving environment, and takes pride in building inspection processes that scale.
What You'll Do
Team Leadership & Development
- Supervise and develop a team of quality inspectors, upholding best practices and providing training in inspection methods, GD&T interpretation, and use of tooling/fixtures.
- Set clear expectations for performance, hold the team accountable to quality standards, and create growth opportunities for individuals.
- Foster a culture of ownership, precision, and continuous improvement within the inspection team.
Inspection Planning & Prioritization
- Partner with the material planning team to determine daily/weekly inspection priorities and allocate resources accordingly.
- Balance workloads across the team by understanding work scope, inspection complexity, and inspector capabilities.
- Ensure timely inspections that support production schedules without compromising quality.
Technical Expertise
- Act as the subject-matter expert on GD&T, metrology, and inspection tooling/fixtures.
- Review and critique inspection plans, drawings, and fixture designs, providing feedback on feasibility and tolerance stack-ups.
- Guide the team in using the right tools for each inspection and identifying tricky or non-obvious issues.
Process Improvement & Communication
- Develop and refine inspection processes that scale with increased production rates.
- Ensure accurate documentation and traceability of inspection results in the quality-management system.
- Drive clear communication of inspection results, nonconformances, and priorities across teams.
- Collaborate with Quality Engineering to support root-cause investigations and corrective actions.
What You'll Bring
- 5+ years of hands-on quality inspection experience in manufacturing, aerospace, or related fields, including at least 2 years in a leadership or supervisory role.
- Deep technical literacy: proven expertise in GD&T, engineering drawings, schematics, and inspection plans.
- Strong knowledge of inspection tooling, fixtures, and metrology methods.
- Demonstrated ability to train, mentor, and coach others in inspection best practices.
- Experience prioritizing workloads and balancing resources across a team.
- Excellent communication and organizational skills; able to clearly assign work, track progress, and communicate status.
- Experience collaborating with planning, engineering, and production teams to align quality and schedule goals.
- Proficiency with quality documentation software (e.g., 1Factory), task tracking tools (e.g., Jira), and general computer literacy.
- Strong attention to detail with a disciplined, process-driven mindset.
- Experience inspecting composites (carbon fiber or similar) strongly preferred.
Other Requirements
- Ability to lift up to 20 lbs and perform hands-on work throughout the day
- Comfort working with tools, chemicals, and hardware in a lab/manufacturing environment (including respirator use when required)
What Else You Need To Know
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!