Droid Autonomy Intern - Perception SWE (Summer 2025)

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 Perception Team

In service of our mission to operate at global scale, we’re growing our perception capabilities, to expand quickly and safely into new products and locations, with the ultimate goal of delivering essential packages right to your doorstep. Our team is made up of engineers and researchers who are passionate about developing and shipping perception systems for the real world. This work spans the fields of computer vision, deep learning, localization/navigation, data analysis, sensor fusion, and more!

The Role

You'll dive into novel experimental work, pushing the boundaries of current research. Our distinctive challenges require groundbreaking approaches, and you'll have the chance to see your ideas transition from concept to real-world application. In a fast-paced and collaborative environment, you'll devise novel solutions to our pressing perception challenges. Join us, and be at the frontier of shaping the future of autonomous deliveries.

What You'll Do  

• Experiment and ideate on learning-based solutions for unique perception challenges.
• Transition experimental solutions to scalable, real-world applications.
• Collaborate closely with team members, brainstorming and deriving creative solutions from first principles.
• Build tools to streamline processes and encourage engineering excellence.
• Share findings and insights, fostering knowledge exchange across teams.
• Drive the transition of experimental models into practical, operational systems.

What You'll Bring 

• A master’s degree or PhD is required; a PhD is preferred.
• A proven history of quality ML research, reflected by publications in conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, CoRL, RSS, etc.
• Specific expertise in areas such as depth estimation, semantic segmentation, 3D perception, etc.
• Proficiency with deep learning frameworks like PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow.
• Ability to rapidly experiment, iterate, and adapt to new findings in a dynamic environment.

What Else You Need to Know   

Our internships are full-time positions, in-person at our South San Francisco office. We will host our Summer interns from May to September. 

The starting cash range for this role is  $52 - 57 / 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 this role may also include: overtime pay; commuter benefits; 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.