Marcus Mueller

Let’s talk about Zipline’s test sites and who we’re hiring for 🧵 They are where elite talent meets 24/7 large scale high volume testing. They’re the engine that helped scale Zipline to the largest autonomous delivery service on earth, 5,000+ autonomous trips around the world and we’re just getting started. @zipline's testing in 2025: 315,000+ test flights 🚀 35,000+ flight hours (480+ straight days of nonstop flying) 🙂‍ 3,000+ flights per day 📈 Our test sites are built to push our system to the max so that we de-risk tomorrow. Each one tackles a different brutal edgecase to make sure the system’s reliability is bulletproof. Our 'engineering test site' in the video I posted is reconfigured every few weeks: new obstacles are added, new flight apps reviewed, new edge cases are tested in any weather condition. Every new software build deploys here first, into live airspace. Our other sites are placed around the U.S. and are focused on testing in severe conditions that ground most if not all other forms of transport. They operate in scorching heat of up to 125 degrees, high-altitudes, intense rainstorms, 60+ mph winds, hail, sleet, and extreme cold-weather, down to -20F. Heavy ice and snow accumulation on propulsion and sensors is the norm. We aggressively chase these conditions in test so we dominate when it really matters. We are now developing 5+ new test sites, each one dialed in to push even more extreme weather and edge conditions. What I am especially proud of is that our safety has kept improving even as flight volume, complexity and environmental hostility increases. We’ve been able to test and develop at a scale that’s unprecedented in aviation history because our teams own a 100% fully vertical tech stack, built hand in hand with our flight and application software teams. We have to have the most robust airspace and fleet management tools on earth because Zipline will soon operate the largest fleet of aircraft on earth. Now to the fun part, we're hiring! DM me or send me an email to marcus@zipline.com if you want to join Zipline Test Operations! We're hiring Flight Test Operators, Test Site Operators, Flight Test Electricians, Flight Test Construction Staff, Flight Test Project and Program Managers, Flight Test Engineers, Flight Test Safety Managers, Flight Test Security and, most importantly, Flight and Fleet Application Software Engineers. Please, cut to the chase. We have zero requirements on degrees, formal education or tenure. What counts is what you can do, merit, and what you’ve shown you’re capable of. Highlight that. Let's go!

@JessieTweeting Soon!

@Marcusmueller Are you guys planning on expanding to 🇨🇦 soon? Zipline would be an awesome company to work for, we have lots of talent, and a lot of rural communities to connect.

Let’s talk about Zipline’s test sites and who we’re hiring for 🧵 They are where elite talent meets 24/7 large scale high volume testing. They’re the engine that helped scale Zipline to the largest autonomous delivery service on earth, 5,000+ autonomous trips around the world and we’re just getting started. @zipline's testing in 2025: 315,000+ test flights 🚀 35,000+ flight hours (480+ straight days of nonstop flying) 🙂‍ 3,000+ flights per day 📈 Our test sites are built to push our system to the max so that we de-risk tomorrow. Each one tackles a different brutal edgecase to make sure the system’s reliability is bulletproof. Our 'engineering test site' in the video I posted is reconfigured every few weeks: new obstacles are added, new flight apps reviewed, new edge cases are tested in any weather condition. Every new software build deploys here first, into live airspace. Our other sites are placed around the U.S. and are focused on testing in severe conditions that ground most if not all other forms of transport. They operate in scorching heat of up to 125 degrees, high-altitudes, intense rainstorms, 60+ mph winds, hail, sleet, and extreme cold-weather, down to -20F. Heavy ice and snow accumulation on propulsion and sensors is the norm. We aggressively chase these conditions in test so we dominate when it really matters. We are now developing 5+ new test sites, each one dialed in to push even more extreme weather and edge conditions. What I am especially proud of is that our safety has kept improving even as flight volume, complexity and environmental hostility increases. We’ve been able to test and develop at a scale that’s unprecedented in aviation history because our teams own a 100% fully vertical tech stack, built hand in hand with our flight and application software teams. We have to have the most robust airspace and fleet management tools on earth because Zipline will soon operate the largest fleet of aircraft on earth. Now to the fun part, we're hiring! DM me or send me an email to marcus@zipline.com if you want to join Zipline Test Operations! We're hiring Flight Test Operators, Test Site Operators, Flight Test Electricians, Flight Test Construction Staff, Flight Test Project and Program Managers, Flight Test Engineers, Flight Test Safety Managers, Flight Test Security and, most importantly, Flight and Fleet Application Software Engineers. Please, cut to the chase. We have zero requirements on degrees, formal education or tenure. What counts is what you can do, merit, and what you’ve shown you’re capable of. Highlight that. Let's go!

@Siddhant__rao @ryanzip @zipline Test sites make no concessions!

@ryanzip @zipline Drone abuse alert

Almost blown away by this high wind @zipline testing

@AeroSpaceKnight @ryanzip @zipline Long.

@ryanzip @zipline How long can it attempt before it has to ground land.

@fabinulleins @ryanzip @zipline Wanna come, work on it?

@ryanzip @zipline needs some work on motor control delay I would guess. Seams high no?

@harvey62670 @ryanzip @zipline She made it!

@ryanzip @zipline I could not watch the whole thing. It was so stressful. I felt so bad for the little guy. Did he make it?

@Northery84 @ryanzip @zipline We can do windier.

@ryanzip @zipline This is how you test for hurricane parties in Florida.

@beyrouti @ryanzip @zipline This is the way.

@ryanzip @zipline 50mph wind gusts here today and I got my Zipline Delivery just fine.

@ryanzip @2dadsCoffeeCo @zipline We broke the TESTERs for it 3 times. Then we oversized it 100x, then we broke, finally, an airframe.

@2dadsCoffeeCo @zipline Yes, one composite layup from head to toe, motor to motor

@ryanzip @JohnnyG39179521 @zipline This

@JohnnyG39179521 @zipline This relies on neither of those technologies

@rep_stevewomack @FAA_Bryan Thank you for coming by!

In Pea Ridge, @FAA_Bryan and I had the chance to see how Zipline, a U.S. drone delivery company, and Walmart are working together to deliver items like groceries to Third District homes.

@sendilpalani What an insane run @sendilpalani! It was great working with you, neither Energy nor the Supercharger network would be where they are without you. Congrats on epic 17 years!

After seventeen incredible years, my latest chapter at Tesla has come to a close. Words won’t do justice to how fulfilling the experience has been, but I’ll try anyway: Tesla barely survived Christmas 2008. I started a few days later in our Finance team, under an ongoing “Tesla Deathwatch”. I slept under my desk in San Carlos, CA at least once, and I wasn’t the only one. There are many companies with hard-working and talented employees, but few have the level of commitment and collaboration of the Tesla team. In retrospect, this should have been an obvious predictor of the successes that would follow. This is as true today as it was in 2009. To my former Finance team: You are heroes within a company full of heroics, given the full-body workout that is your daily job. Take an Accounting or Finance textbook off the shelf and flip to a random page - Tesla is undoubtedly manifesting the underlying concept in the real world. From selling hardware and software under various business models, managing assets of all types (including digital ones), to pursuing continuous investment into an ambitious future throughout the world, you make the impossible look easy. To my colleagues across the rest of the company - I am grateful for the time that you have spent to educate me, including during my stints outside of the Finance team. You have started with one of Tesla’s strongest advantages - the strongest talent across engineering, manufacturing/operations, and customer-facing functions - and have turned it into an unstoppable force via your “one team” attitude. For me, late-night sessions on topics ranging from the physics of a brake rotor to the training of a neural network proved more valuable than any classroom experience that came before, and made the company stronger as a result. Going to work is not supposed to be this much fun. @elonmusk : A heartfelt thanks for your endless love of humanity, and for demonstrating the power of thinking from first principles at all times, about all things. When Abundance is achieved and money ceases to have meaning, these lessons will be the most valuable commodity in our economy. To the outside world, who may not have experienced the above first-hand: Remember that Tesla’s mission is so ambitious and complex that any narrative about the company is naturally an oversimplification. Seek the truth about the company at all times. And support it in any way that you can! There are few higher callings/better uses of your time.

@ryanzip Upgrading limits initiated.... 😎

At our extreme weather test sites, we fly with a tether to fly in weather beyond the limits. Guess this storm wasn't strong enough.

Some of our best hires were totally unqualified on paper. They always had the same qualities: entrepreneurial, high agency, smart, mission aligned, and they got shit done. If you’re hiring, especially in early stages, seek out & bet on these people. Don’t over-index on resumes.

@ryanzip @zipline I’ll raise this by a giving you also a tour of our test sites, personally.

.@zipline is getting ready to overhaul our app to feel as futuristic as summoning a flying robot to your doorstep. I'm looking for an engineer to help make this a reality. Hit me up w/ the apps you've built, and I'll extend an invite to our HQ manufacturing facility in South SF.

@PalmerLuckey lmao

I am upset by WIRED cover story about the gay mafia supposedly running Silicon Valley. Not because their own stats show only 0.5% of venture dollars go to homos, but because my response during fact-checking led to them only referring to me as "a prominent defense-technology executive" @micsolana Will you please fix this? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

@zipline Let’s go!!

Unscheduled snow event at our high altitude cold weather test site — all systems functioning nominally.

@Ricburton @keenanwyrobek @zipline Send me an email, we'll see what we can do. marcus.mueller@flyzipline.com

@keenanwyrobek @zipline Are people allowed to drive near this place to see the magic happening?

This is just one story (of many) about how we tried, failed, and learned how to improve @zipline's drone delivery system.

@LachlanVan12413 @ryanzip Received. Assessed and forwarded to several Head of’s

@Marcusmueller @ryanzip Sent!

Beautiful day for flight testing