Fleet Configuration & Change Manager

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

3d•$130,000 - $160,000

About The Position

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service, aiming to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to essential goods. They operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, making deliveries globally. The company is seeking practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth, motivated by building systems with a meaningful impact. The Fleet Configuration & Change Manager role is at the intersection of hardware and business operations, ensuring the operational fleet is process-capable and that engineering innovations are deployed effectively. This cross-functional role interfaces with hardware engineering, reliability, maintenance operations, and business strategy. The manager will strategically plan the fleet's makeup, evaluate tradeoffs for hardware releases and retrofit campaigns, manage fleet variations, and ensure controlled deployment of new hardware configurations.

Requirements

Several years leading complex hardware change deployment, fleet configuration, maintenance planning, NPI, sustaining engineering, or technical operations programs.
Working knowledge of engineering change control: BOMs, part and revision control, effectivity, ECOs, compatibility, production cut-ins, and retrofit embodiment.
Strong quantitative judgment: lifecycle cost, capacity impact, reliability benefit, maintenance burden, inventory exposure, and scenario analysis.
Track record of success building and implementing new operating processes: intake, prioritization, decision gates, reviews, communications, and escalation paths.
Exceptional data and record discipline. In this role, configuration accuracy is operationally and potentially regulatorily consequential.
Clear written and verbal communication with both engineers and business leaders.
Willingness and ability to spend time with field technicians, operators, production teams, and deployed sites to deeply understand fleet allocation impacts.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with reliability engineering, maintainability, spares planning, technical publications, training readiness, and regulatory change incorporation.
SQL, spreadsheet modeling, BI, or other analytical skills sufficient to independently evaluate fleet scenarios.

Responsibilities

Strategically plan the makeup of the autonomous aircraft fleet.
Evaluate tradeoffs for the business with respect to hardware releases, retrofit campaigns, and fleet allocation.
Manage the variations across the fleet.
Ensure new hardware configurations are deployed in a controlled and organized manner.
Determine which existing assets in the P2 Fleet (ziplines, pods, docks, and dropboxes) should receive hardware upgrades, which should not, the appropriate timescales for each, and how these configurations should be allocated across sites, partners, and business needs.
Review proposed hardware changes to Zipline’s fleet prior to manufacturing cut-in for feasibility and operational process readiness.
Evaluate the costs & benefits of deploying proposed hardware changes to the operating fleet; define fleet allocation plans and retrofit campaigns with these insights.
Project-manage the operations team’s review of new hardware adjustments – the Commercial Operations Readiness Review - to confirm field-readiness; channel negative feedback to the responsible engineers.
Build the system to manage Operations’ review of all incoming tickets / concepts from Engineering; program manage the timely feedback and decision on proposals.
Program-manage the fixtures and tools and testers required to execute and support a hardware change and ensure clear ownership of any changes required to the tooling, parts, and workflows of operations.
Plan and sequence retrofits as necessary; ensure readiness for parts supply, labor resourcing and training, and progress tracking.
Track and manage asset configuration allocations across commercial and partner locations.