About Zipline
Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.
Join Zipline and help us to make good on our promise to build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.
About You and The Role
Zipline is scaling drone production and flight operations by more than 20× over the next three years while maintaining best-in-class safety and reliability. You will own the entire supplier industrialization and supplier development engineering functions — building the team, processes, tools, and culture that make Zipline’s massive scale-up possible without compromising quality, delivery, or cost. This role reports to the VP of Supply Chain, and will have 10-15 direct reports.
What You'll Do
- Full accountability for supplier readiness: every new program and every major ramp must pass through your organization’s technical gates before volume commitments are made.
- Build and lead a world-class team of Supplier Quality Engineers (SQEs), Industrialization Engineers, and NPI/Development Engineers
- Design and enforce Zipline’s global Supplier Industrialization Framework from first principles:
- Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
- Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) with Zipline-specific submission requirements (FAI (“First Article Inspection”), PSW (“Part Submission Warrant”), dimensional reports, material certifications, process capability, etc.)
- Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA) moderation and risk buy-off methodology
- Run-at-Rate and ramp validation protocols
- Process capability roadmaps (Cpk targets, statistical process controls)
- Supplier scorecard system (OTD (“On-Time Delivery”), PPM (“Parts Per Million” defect rate), capacity utilization, cost-reduction delivery, risk)
- Digital interface collaboration with Software leadership to ensure issue tickets and RCCA are documented and routed back to suppliers
- Creation of robust, first-principles based should-cost modeling methodology. Build and maintain bottoms-up, parametric should-cost models for every critical commodity (carbon-fiber aero structures, high power density Li-ion battery packs, brushless propulsion motors, avionics/powertrain PCBAs, precision-machined flight-critical parts, ground systems hardware, etc). Your models will be the source of truth for commercial negotiation benchmarking, make-vs-buy decisions, and annual cost-reduction targets.
- Lead technical deep dives with suppliers on Design for Manufacturability/Assembly (DFM/A), automation ROI, tooling investment, and value-engineering initiatives driven directly from should-cost models.
- Develop dynamic capacity modeling tools that forecast supplier output 12–36 months forward under multiple demand scenarios, including the rate improvement action tracking systems needed to ensure industrialization risks are understood and mitigated
- Act as the final technical gatekeeper in Production Readiness Reviews (PRRs) and PPAP/FAI sign-off
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, Aerospace, Manufacturing, or Electrical Engineering.
- 8-15+ years in supplier quality, supplier development, or manufacturing/industrialization engineering in safety-critical or regulated hardware.
- 8+ years directly managing and scaling technical teams of 10+ engineers (hiring, mentoring, org design, span-of-control optimization).
- Multiple end-to-end APQP (“Advanced Product Quality Planning”) and PPAP (“Production Part Approval Process”) cycles personally led from kick-off through PSW approval in aerospace, automotive Tier-1, medical device (Class II/III), or high-volume consumer electronics.
- Proven track record taking at least three complex suppliers from prototype/low-rate (<5K units/yr) to full-rate production (>100K units/yr) while achieving Cp/Cpk ≥ 1.67 and GR&R (“Gage Repeatability & Reproducibility”) < 10% on critical characteristics.
- Expert-level command of GD&T (“Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing”), MSA (“Measurement System Analysis”), SPC (“Statistical Process Control”), FAI per AS9102, PFMEA, Control Plans, and DOE (“Design of Experiments”).
- Hands-on experience building and defending bottom-up should-cost models that drove >15% cost reduction on programs exceeding $50M annual spend.
- Demonstrated ability to create new processes and tools in high-growth, ambiguous environments (startups or business units that 5×–20×’d revenue in <5 years).
- Willing and able to travel internationally 40–50% (including 2–4 week stints in Asia during critical ramps).
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Engineering or MBA from a top university
- 5+ years in certified aerospace (Part 21/145), eVTOL, automotive, or autonomous vehicle programs with direct FAA/EASA/NTSB exposure.
- Deep domain expertise in one or more of Zipline’s core commodities listed above.
- Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt with completed DMAIC projects delivering substantial annualized savings.
- Personally built and institutionalized should-cost platforms (using Excel + Python, Costimator, aPriori, or custom tools) that became the standard for an entire company or division.
- Former leadership roles at top firms, such as SpaceX, Tesla, Joby, Archer, Google, Anduril, Rivian, Lucid, DJI, Boston Dynamics, Apple hardware, or Tier-1 aerospace suppliers
Leadership Expectations
- Exceptional ability to hire top 5% A-players and keep them challenged and growing
- You are the technical conscience of the supply chain—data-driven, willing to kill or delay a ramp when data demands it, and able to persuade executives with rigorous analysis.
- You obsess over root cause and preventive systems; firefighting is a process failure on your watch.
- You treat cost as a design parameter: your should-cost models are proactive weapons to minimize the negotiation loop and drive best-in-class commercial outcomes
What Else You Need to Know
This role is an in office role based out of our South San Francisco HQ with a minimum of 5 days a week in office. Must be eligible to work in the US and travel globally as needed. This role will require travel of 25-50% of the time to visit Suppliers, and Zipline will work together with you to make sure that this is possible.
The starting cash range for this role is $225,000 - $275,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role.The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.
Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies.
We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!
