About Zipline

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 You and The Role

As a Program Manager, you will work at the intersection of cutting-edge engineering, cost-effective supply chain, manufacturing, quality, complex healthcare systems, and highly regulated airspaces. We are looking for a versatile technical leader, strong in both strategy and execution with proven success delivering cross-functional, hardware programs efficiently and on-time. At Zipline, Program Management is not only the glue that holds cross-functional teams together but also an empowered decision-making function, driving us forward to achieve our ambitious mission of providing every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies.

What You'll Do

You will serve as the hands on program manager for our biggest, most cross-disciplinary initiatives. One example is the development, production, and operational launch of our all-new next generation aircraft. Another example is leading our Distribution Center to double the flight capacity per day, dramatically increasing uptime across the system, and all while we scale the number of Distribution Centers around the globe by 5x over the next year. Here are the types of challenges you’ll tackle:

• Set and communicate program objectives and priorities.
• Interact, integrate, and drive results across cross-functional teams in engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, sales, operations, etc. 
• Develop, maintain, and communicate the appropriate Program Plan ranging from when we will achieve a high level objective to specific release dates for development builds.
• Ensure critical cross-team efforts are well owned (including owning some yourself) such as the layout of our Distribution Centers for optimal operations efficiency, resolving a critical safety issue in the field, or achieving a universally loved delivery experience.
• Lead cross-functional Program and Manufacturing readiness reviews. 
• Ensure Product Development Processes are followed generally, but also be the cross-disciplinary decision maker when exceptions should be made.
• Continuously perform relevant risk and opportunity analyses to stay ahead of the game and address problems before they impact the program.
• Decide if a hardware change will be retrofitted into existing deployed hardware and coordinate the retrofit with minimal customer impact across our worldwide operations.
• Provide clear updates at both working and executive level.
• Create and refine processes and templates for not just your Program but across Programs, including things like change control, product development process, scheduling, risk tracking, etc.

What You'll Bring

• You have a positive, can-do attitude that you harness to rally a team to make impressive progress day after day. 
• You naturally identify the critical path in a program and jump in with both feet to support the team in driving that critical path effort.
• You have shipped complex electromechanical systems.
• You have succeeded in a program management role with deep ownership of the outcome of projects.
• You have the engineering background and experience to effectively lead technical programs.
• You have worked in fast-paced, high-growth environments like startups.
• You have an entrepreneurial disposition; you are able to creatively solve hard problems, get up to speed quickly, and bring a curious, can-do zest to all the challenges you face.

Qualifications

• 3+ years experience in program management of complex hardware and software systems.
• 5+ years experience in hardware development programs.
• Bachelor’s or additional degrees in engineering or related fields.
• Multidisciplinary technical background – be comfortable in EE, ME and SW domains.
• Excellent computer skills, especially with communication tools and program management tools.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW    

This position will be based out of our Headquarters in South San Francisco, CA. 

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!