Technical Program Manager - Towers

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

12h•Onsite

About The Position

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service, dedicated to ensuring access to food, medicine, and essential goods globally. They design, build, and operate an autonomous logistics system, completing millions of deliveries across four continents, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Zipline's system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and provides rapid delivery, having safely flown over 140 million commercial autonomous miles. The company seeks practical problem solvers motivated by building systems with meaningful impact and scaling the future of logistics. The Ground Systems team, a multi-disciplinary hardware and software group, is responsible for designing and deploying the infrastructure for aircraft charging, package loading, and autonomous operations. Within this team, the Towers team develops the structural and electrical backbone of Zipline’s charging sites, supporting docks, aircraft operations, power/data distribution, and auxiliary systems across diverse geographies. As the Technical Program Manager for Towers, you will lead the development and deployment of complex hardware infrastructure to scale Zipline’s global network. This role involves collaborating with structural, electrical, validation, manufacturing, and software teams to guide system decisions, mitigate technical risks, and ensure designs are successfully implemented in real-world builds. The position combines product definition, systems engineering, and execution, requiring you to navigate complex technical decisions, coordinate across disciplines, and ensure designs translate into functional field-deployed infrastructure. The ideal candidate enjoys hands-on work with hardware, engineers, technicians, and operations teams, taking ownership of outcomes, identifying problems early, and driving solutions beyond traditional role boundaries.

Requirements

2+ years of experience in technical program management or in a hardware engineering, systems engineering, manufacturing, or technical operations role involving complex hardware systems.
Experience working on complex hardware systems in fields such as aerospace, robotics, automotive, energy, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, or similar technical environments.
Strong systems thinking and the ability to dive into unfamiliar technical domains in order to understand tradeoffs, guide decisions, and unblock teams.
A highly execution-oriented mindset; you take ownership of outcomes, follow through relentlessly, and ensure important details don’t fall through the cracks.
Demonstrated ability to coordinate cross-functional engineering teams and drive complex technical programs forward in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.
Experience improving team effectiveness through documentation, decision tracking, or process improvements that reduce friction for engineering teams.
Strong facilitation and communication skills, with the ability to guide technical discussions and align teams with different perspectives.
A collaborative and relationship-driven approach to problem solving, with the ability to build trust across engineering, operations, and external partners.
Enthusiasm for working closely with engineers, technicians, and deployment teams and being actively involved in bringing complex hardware systems to life.
Must be eligible to work in the US.
Must be able to work in person at Zipline’s South San Francisco office.

Responsibilities

Drive complex infrastructure programs from early concept through real-world deployment, aligning cross-functional teams around clear priorities and execution plans.
Work across structural, electrical, validation, manufacturing, and software domains to guide system-level decisions and ensure designs translate successfully into real-world builds.
Coordinate prototypes, builds, and infrastructure deployments, ensuring teams are prepared to execute and capturing lessons learned to improve future programs.
Identify and resolve technical, operational, and organizational bottlenecks that slow teams down, proactively addressing the areas where progress is most at risk.
Facilitate technical discussions, design reviews, and trade studies that help engineering teams converge on effective solutions and clear decisions.
Partner closely with manufacturing and quality teams to ensure infrastructure designs translate into reliable, repeatable production and installation outcomes.
Develop lightweight tools, documentation, and operational processes (such as decision logs, build playbooks, and workflow improvements) that help engineering teams move faster and operate with clarity.
Drive clear communication of program status, risks, and decisions across engineering, operations, and leadership stakeholders.
Work closely with engineers, technicians, and deployment teams to ensure programs successfully translate from design into working systems in the field.