Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager, Manufacturing Strategy & Operations

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

11h•$118,700 - $240,000•Onsite

About The Position

Zipline’s Integration, Quality, Production, and Manufacturing Engineering organization turns complex hardware designs into safe, high-quality products that can be manufactured reliably at scale. The Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager for Manufacturing Strategy & Operations serves as a strategic partner to the Director and leadership team, translating manufacturing goals into strategies, analytical decisions, operating plans, and cross-functional execution. As production capacity, factory footprint, organizational complexity, and team scope grow, this role develops capacity and labor plans, leads strategic analyses, improves executive communication, and drives high-priority projects from concept through implementation. It is not a traditional program coordination role: the person independently structures ambiguous problems, builds rigorous analyses, develops recommendations, and helps leaders make faster, better-informed decisions. The role is onsite in a factory environment. The starting cash range is $118,700–$240,000. Final cash pay depends on factors including experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. Total compensation may also include equity compensation, overtime pay, discretionary annual or performance bonuses, sales incentives, medical, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, and other benefits.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in technical program management, manufacturing strategy, business operations, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related field.
Experience in a complex hardware, manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, robotics, medical-device, or similarly technical environment.
Ability to structure ambiguous problems and translate quantitative and qualitative analysis into clear recommendations.
Experience developing capacity plans, labor models, operational strategies, organizational plans, or business cases.
Strong understanding of manufacturing concepts such as capacity, takt time, throughput, yield, labor utilization, equipment constraints, and production readiness.
Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives through implementation and measurable results.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level presentations and decision documents.
Advanced proficiency with Excel or Google Sheets.
Ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners without direct authority.
Ability to work onsite in a factory environment.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, industrial/systems engineering, operations, business, economics, or a related field.
Experience supporting a major production ramp, factory expansion, or rapidly scaling organization.
Experience in a chief-of-staff, strategy and operations, or business operations role within a technical organization.
Experience with headcount planning, organizational design, budgeting, capital planning, or financial modeling.
Familiarity with Lean Manufacturing or other high-rate manufacturing systems.

Responsibilities

Build manufacturing growth plans connecting production demand, factory capacity, labor, equipment, facilities, quality, and organizational capabilities.
Translate production ramps into recommendations for facility footprint, shifts, hiring, training, equipment, and investment.
Develop scenario models evaluating demand, productivity, yield, automation, outsourcing, cost, and schedule risk.
Support annual planning, headcount planning, budgeting, capital planning, and organizational design.
Turn complex operational questions into clear analyses, tradeoffs, and recommendations.
Develop business cases for major investments, organizational changes, and strategic initiatives.
Prepare executive presentations, decision documents, operating reviews, and strategic communications.
Establish a consistent source of truth for performance, capacity, staffing, priorities, risks, and commitments.
Design operating rhythms connecting long-range strategy to weekly and monthly execution.
Establish metrics and dashboards across safety, quality, production, engineering, capacity, labor, cost, and schedule.
Create mechanisms for escalating decisions, assigning owners, and driving actions through closure.
Improve communication between functional teams, organizational leadership, and senior executives.
Own high-priority initiatives that span multiple teams or lack a clear functional owner.
Lead programs such as factory labor-model changes, organizational transformations, and productivity efforts.
Coordinate across Production, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Integration, Supply Chain, Finance, People, Recruiting, Facilities, and Design Engineering.
Identify systemic blockers, drive cross-functional decisions, and ensure execution against agreed plans.
Serve as a thought partner to the Director and leadership team, translating discussions into strategies, decisions, communications, and action plans.
Track decisions, dependencies, and follow-through to maintain continuity across meetings.
Identify recurring coordination work and develop scalable systems and ownership models.
Within the first 30 days, understand the organization, production system, priorities, and scaling risks; build relationships with leaders and partners; and take ownership of core communications and operating reviews.
Within the first 90 days, establish an organizational scorecard and leadership operating cadence, deliver an integrated manufacturing and labor scaling model, and lead a high-priority strategic project through an approved execution plan.
Within the first 180 days, deliver a 12–24 month manufacturing and organizational strategy, establish planning and communication systems, and execute a major initiative that measurably improves capacity, productivity, cost, quality, or organizational readiness.