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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Technical Program Manager, Flight Systems Platform - **Company:** Zipline - **Location:** South San Francisco, CA, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $165,000.0 - $210,000.0 - **Contract:** Temporary contract - **Skills:** Systems Engineering, Cloud Computing, Continuous Integration, Programming Tools, Distributed Systems, Embedded Software, Gantt Charts, Hardware Platform Interface, Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation, Data Logging, Data Management, Machine Learning Operations, Hardware Infrastructure - **Published:** September 4, 2026 - **Apply:** https://startup.jobs/technical-program-manager-flight-systems-platform-zipline-8758045 ## About the Role * Minimum of 6+ years of technical program management experience owning platform programs (e.g., validation, infrastructure, data, embedded) that served multiple engineering teams; demonstrated ownership of large migrations, automation, or validation initiatives. * Technical fluency in several of the following: cloud infrastructure, on-premise systems, CI/CD, distributed systems, embedded software, data platforms, ML infrastructure, simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, observability, or fleet operations. * Experience working on a hardware platform (e.g., robotics, automotive, or aviation). * Track record of shipping measurable velocity and reliability improvements with concrete metrics (e.g., % reduction in build/test time, SLO attainment, HIL throughput gains). Be prepared to share baseline-to-result examples during interviews. * Strong program control skills: risk registers, Gantt/timeline ownership, rollout/rollback plans, runbooks, and structured postmortems with tracked remediation items. * Ability to make and defend hard tradeoffs on performance, cost, and safety; experienced at convening technical and ops stakeholders and driving binding decisions. * Comfortable with operational intensity: on-call coordination for launches, occasional off-hours work for field tests/launches, and travel to test or customer sites (up to 10%). * Location requirement: South San Francisco office presence minimum 4 days/week * Education/tech background: BS in CS, EE, Systems Engineering or equivalent experience; former software or systems engineer is strongly preferred. ## Description You will own the execution of cross-functional platform capabilities that enable Zipline to build, test, deploy, monitor, maintain, and scale a fleet of autonomous aircraft and supporting infrastructure. The portfolio includes a number of top priority initiatives, spanning cloud and on-prem infrastructure, OTA delivery, logging and telemetry, data and ML pipelines, simulation and HIL/SIL environments, CI and developer tooling, maps and serviceability systems, and site-level operational tooling. You will make dependencies, interfaces, sequencing, and tradeoffs across teams visible and actionable. Your work will improve engineering velocity, validation confidence, fleet availability, operational efficiency, and the safety and reliability of Zipline's delivery network. You do not need to be an expert in every platform domain. You should bring strong technical depth in one or more areas and the ability to learn quickly, connect systems-level concerns, and drive decisions across organizational boundaries. What You'll Do * Own cross-functional programs from strategy through delivery, defining outcomes, milestones, success metrics, dependencies, risks, and decision points. * Lead complex migrations, rollouts, and architectural transitions across cloud, on-premise, vehicle, dock, tower, and site environments. * Drive improvements in platform reliability, scalability, latency, cost, test throughput, developer feedback loops, deployment success, and operational recovery. * Establish shared readiness criteria for launches and migrations, including validation coverage, observability, rollback plans, operational ownership, and safety-critical dependencies. * Make cross-functional tradeoffs explicit, balancing safety, reliability, performance, cost, fidelity, delivery speed, and operational complexity. * Create effective operating mechanisms: program reviews, dependency tracking, risk registers, decision logs, executive updates, and measurable health dashboards. * Drive incident and postmortem follow-through, ensuring systemic corrective actions are prioritized, owned, measured, and closed. * Help teams turn shared platform capabilities into repeatable, self-service workflows for engineers, validators, technicians, and operators. * Manage schedules, resourcing, vendor dependencies, and escalation paths for programs with material impact on fleet or business timelines., * Deliver one major program milestone: complete a phased migration or rollout that improves a tracked metric (e.g., 10% cloud cost reduction) and pass a launch readiness review. * Establish program dashboards and SLOs for platform health and developer velocity, and identify top-priority areas for improvement. ## Related Videos - [Green Cloud Computing](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/592-green-cloud-computing) - [Crypto-secure Data Management with In-Database Blockchain](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/632-crypto-secure-data-management-with-in-database-blockchain) - [7 tips for releasing on a Friday afternoon: YouTrack to the rescue](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/204-7-tips-for-releasing-on-a-friday-afternoon-youtrack-to-the-rescue) - [Remote Driving on Plant Grounds with State-of-the-Art Cloud Technologies](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/251-remote-driving-on-plant-grounds-with-state-of-the-art-cloud-technologies) - [WebAssembly: The Next Frontier of Cloud Computing](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/972-webassembly-the-next-frontier-of-cloud-computing) - [Build Delightful Mobile Experiences with Kotlin, Realm, and Atlas Device Sync](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/694-build-delightful-mobile-experiences-with-kotlin-realm-and-atlas-device-sync) ## Related Articles - [How We Built a Worry-Free System That Runs for 10+ Years – And What We’d Do Again](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/751-how-we-built-a-worry-free-system-that-runs-for-10-years-and-what-we-d-do-again) - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers) - [Fully Remote Software Engineer Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/447-fully-remote-software-engineer-jobs) - [Why Upskilling And Reskilling is Important For Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/428-why-upskilling-and-reskilling-is-important-for-developers) - [Is Software Engineering Over-Saturated?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/418-is-software-engineering-over-saturated) - [From developer to manager – what does it take to become an engineering manager?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/42-from-developer-to-manager-what-does-it-take-to-become-an-engineering-manager)