Production Planner

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

7d•$118,000 - $180,000

About The Position

About Zipline Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations. Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe. We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds. About the Role As a Production Planner, you will drive build readiness and manufacturing execution across both NPI and production environments. This role combines production planning, manufacturing execution, and operational leadership across rapidly evolving production environments. You will be responsible for aligning labor, material readiness, and production priorities to support aggressive build targets in a fast-changing manufacturing environment. You will play a key role in scaling manufacturing operations and shaping how production execution evolves as Zipline grows. The ideal candidate is highly organized, execution-oriented, comfortable operating under ambiguity, and capable of bringing structure to fast-changing manufacturing operations without relying on perfect systems or excessive process overhead.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in production planning, manufacturing operations, supply chain, NPI, or manufacturing execution environments
Experience supporting both NPI and production operations in fast-changing manufacturing environments
Strong ability to balance labor planning, material readiness, production priorities, and operational constraints
Highly organized, execution-oriented, and comfortable operating under ambiguity and evolving priorities
Proven ability to drive cross-functional coordination and resolve operational blockers in rapidly changing environments
Strong operational instincts and problem-solving skills with the ability to improve manufacturing flow, execution efficiency, and scalable operations in fast-changing environments
Proven ability to work cross-functionally across Production, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and NPI teams
Experience with ERP/MRP systems and production/inventory planning workflows
Experience supporting engineering changes, substitutions, and evolving BOM configurations with minimal disruption to production

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, Manufacturing, or related technical fields
Experience supporting high-mix, low-volume, or highly complex electro-mechanical manufacturing operations
Familiarity with MES systems, digital manufacturing tools, or manufacturing system implementations
Experience working within gated development, NPI, or phase-based manufacturing environments
Background in aerospace, robotics, UAV, automotive, or other high-reliability hardware manufacturing industries

Responsibilities

Own production readiness and execution across critical production areas and programs
Build and maintain production plans that align build targets, labor capacity, material readiness, and operational priorities
Plan labor allocation, production scheduling, and execution priorities to support daily and weekly build goals
Lead cross-functional coordination across Production, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, and NPI teams
Ensure material availability supports build schedules and production priorities
Identify and resolve material shortages, labor constraints, and operational blockers before production impact
Coordinate material flow across receiving, inspection, warehouse, staging/overflow, and production execution areas
Monitor production progress, WIP status, and execution risks to help drive schedule recovery and build completion
Support rapidly changing engineering priorities, substitutions, and evolving BOM configurations
Identify operational gaps and drive practical improvements to production readiness, material flow, and manufacturing execution
Drive labor flexibility and coordinate with Production leadership to ensure sufficient cross-training and coverage across production areas to support changing build priorities, schedule recovery, and execution continuity