Technical Program Manager - Towers

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 You and the Role

The Ground Systems team is a multi-disciplinary hardware and software team responsible for designing and deploying the infrastructure that enables aircraft charging, package loading, and autonomous operations at the heart of Zipline’s drone delivery network.

Within Ground Systems, the Towers team develops the structural and electrical backbone of Zipline’s charging sites. Towers support docks, aircraft operations, power and data distribution, and auxiliary site systems across a wide range of geographies and environmental conditions.

As the Technical Program Manager for Towers, you will drive the development and deployment of complex hardware infrastructure that enables Zipline’s global network to scale. You will work across structural, electrical, validation, manufacturing, and software teams to guide system decisions, resolve technical risks, and ensure that designs translate successfully into real-world builds.

This role sits at the intersection of product definition, systems engineering, and execution. You will help teams navigate complex technical decisions, coordinate across disciplines, and ensure designs translate successfully into working infrastructure deployed in the field.

If you enjoy being close to the hardware and on the front lines of execution and working alongside engineers, technicians, and operations teams to bring complex systems to life, then this role will be a great fit.

We value people who take ownership of outcomes, not just responsibilities; you’ll be identifying problems early, driving decisions, and ensuring work gets completed even when challenges fall outside traditional role boundaries.

On any given week, you might facilitate a cross-team design review, coordinate a prototype build, or work with engineers and technicians to ensure a new tower design installs successfully at a deployment site.

 

What You’ll Do

• 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 stakeholde