Production Manager of Manufacturing Operations

Zipline • South San Francisco, CA

4h • Onsite

About The Position

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service, focused on serving all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine, and essential goods. The company designs, builds, and operates the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, making millions of deliveries globally. Zipline operates on four continents, with a delivery occurring every 30 seconds. Their system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and provides significant time savings. Zipline is seeking practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth, motivated by building systems with a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and scaling the future of logistics. The Production Manager of Manufacturing Operations is responsible for delivering aircraft and autonomy hardware that keep Zipline delivery networks flying. This on-site role at the South San Francisco Production Factory is accountable for transitioning from pilot builds to sustained, high-volume production that meets safety, quality, and service-level requirements. The manager will lead frontline production teams and collaborate closely with Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and Design, impacting aircraft availability, field reliability, and customer dispatch rates.

Requirements

• 8+ years in production/operations leadership with direct P&L or output ownership; experience leading multiple assembly lines and first-line managers.
• Proven experience scaling pilot-to-full-rate manufacturing in electro-mechanical or aerospace/robotics environments.
• Demonstrated MES/ERP proficiency.
• Strong data-driven process control skills.
• Comfortable operating in 12–16 hour ramp days, running shift handovers, and owning rapid escalation decisions under production pressure and tight schedules.
• Demonstrated track record owning safety-critical processes, quality gates, and traceability required for fielded systems or regulated hardware.
• History of meeting throughput, yield, and on-time delivery targets; able to define and hit 90–95%+ first-pass yield or equivalent step-change improvements where applicable.
• Experience hiring, developing, and retaining frontline supervisors and technicians; sets clear performance expectations and enforces accountability.
• Minimal travel (<10%) between sites or to suppliers; full-time on-site presence required during ramp and steady-state production.
• BS in engineering, operations, or equivalent experience.
• Strong ability to read technical drawings, BOMs, and PFMEA outputs.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day execution and outcomes for 4 Top Level Assembly lines and 12 feeder lines: set and meet daily builds, first-pass yield, and ship-ready rates.
• Drive production to concrete targets: deliver X units/week within Y% of scheduled ship dates.
• Manage and develop production supervisors, leads, and technicians across shifts; build staffing plans and run-rate coverage to meet 1st and 2nd shift schedules.
• Maintain on-site accountability for quality, safety, and regulatory checkpoints that directly affect aircraft airworthiness and field deployment.
• Lead planning, scheduling, tooling allocation, and build readiness to eliminate line starvation and minimize changeover time.
• Implement, standardize, and enforce SOPs, build packets, work instructions, and manufacturing control systems (MES/ERP) to ensure repeatable assembly and traceability.
• Monitor and own key metrics (throughput, yield, cycle time, downtime, scrap rate, labor efficiency, MTTR) and run weekly performance reviews with concrete corrective actions and owners.
• Support NPI ramp plans: define climb plan, training curriculum, quality gating, and defect-reduction targets during first 6 months of a new product introduction.
• Champion a culture of accountability and safety— fostering proactive risk management, quick and clear communication from techs, and a constant improvement mentality.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager