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Material Planning Manager

South San Francisco, California, USA

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

You will own material planning and data integrity for a major system that supports Zipline’s drone delivery network. This role sits at the intersection of Engineering, Supplier Industrialization, Manufacturing, and Integrated Planning and is accountable for keeping production flowing during rapid scale-up, design changes, and supplier constraints. Your work directly impacts supplier capability, safety-critical part continuity, production ramp success, and on-time customer deployments. This is an in-person role based in South San Francisco with occasional field and supplier engagement; expect ~5% travel to US-based sites and key partner regions (North America, APAC) to manage suppliers, validate readiness, and resolve escalations.

What You'll Do

  • Own end-to-end material availability for an assigned platform or major subsystem: translate production schedules and forecasts into supplier commitments, inventory positions, and replenishment plans that support target production rates and service levels.
  • Maintain governance of master data (BOMs, item attributes, lead times, planning parameters, engineering change impacts) as the authoritative source for MRP and planning systems.
  • Lead engineering-change integration for materials: assess supply impacts, update planning parameters, run impact analyses, and coordinate supplier actions to minimize production disruption and mitigate scrap/obsolescence risk.
  • Define, implement, and own planning KPIs and targets (e.g., shortage reduction, forecast accuracy, inventory turns, schedule adherence) and drive improvements through data analysis, inventory modeling, and rebalancing actions.
  • Drive exception management for off-nominal processes and escalation for material gaps: triage shortages, lead expedited buys, reallocate inventory across sites, and mobilize cross-functional resources to prevent line stoppages.
  • Partner with Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Industrialization to validate supplier capacity/capability, establish supply commitments, and execute supply-risk mitigation plans (dual-sourcing, safety stock, contract holds) tied to program milestones.
  • Support prototype-to-volume transitions and rate increases through readiness planning, parts flow validation, and supplier performance gating; own material readiness checklists and go/no-go inputs to production launches.
  • Build and maintain reporting and dashboards that provide weekly operational visibility to manufacturing leaders and senior program stakeholders; present root-cause analyses and recommended fixes.

What You'll Bring

  • Title/level: Material Planning Manager (individual contributor or people manager depending on assignment); based in South San Francisco with ~5% travel as needed.
  • 5+ years relevant experience owning material planning, master-data governance, or supply planning for complex electromechanical or avionics products. 
  • Direct experience with MRP/ERP and planning systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, or equivalent) and proven ownership of BOM and planning parameter accuracy in a changing engineering environment.
  • Demonstrated track record reducing shortages and improving forecast accuracy and inventory health for products undergoing design changes and ramping production; able to point to metrics or outcomes you influenced.
  • Strong analytical skills: comfortable with data-driven inventory modeling, scenario analysis, and structured problem solving; able to produce actionable recommendations from large datasets.
  • Experience coordinating across Engineering, Manufacturing, Sourcing, and Supplier partners to execute material readiness and manage escalations under tight timelines.
  • Operating intensity: able to make high-visibility prioritization decisions, lead rapid containment actions, and accept on-site travel to suppliers and manufacturing partners when needed.
  • Must-haves: ability to read and act on BOMs and engineering change notices; practical understanding of lead-time risk, safety stock calculation, and expedited logistics; willingness to work on-site in South San Francisco.

Preferred

  • Experience in high-reliability or regulated industries (aerospace, robotics, automotive) and familiarity with NPI gating and production readiness milestones.
  • Advanced degree or certifications in Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, or related field.
  • Experience scaling production across multinational supplier networks and running supplier readiness audits.

What Else You Need To Know

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

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!

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