Program Manager

Sr. Program Manager, Change Governance

Location: Onsite — Foster City, CA. Local travel to Hayward, CA and Kato, CA required. Up to 20% out-of-station travel.

Zoox is seeking a Program Manager, Change Governance to own the end-to-end orchestration of product changes as they move from tentative engineering approval through cross-functional review to implementation on the production line. This role sits at the center of a multidisciplinary process, ensuring every change is tracked, properly vetted, and executed with full governance and traceability at each stage.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the single point of accountability for tracking a change from tentative Engineering approval through to production-line implementation.
• Coordinate cross-functional review and sign-off across the teams involved in evaluating and implementing a change (Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Logistics, and other stakeholders as applicable) — working through functional representatives and connecting directly with senior stakeholders when needed.
• Own and maintain the governance framework/checklist that defines required approvals, documentation, and gate criteria at each stage of the change lifecycle.
• Drive change requests through each governance gate, proactively identifying blockers, following up with stakeholders, and escalating risks or delays to leadership.
• Understand and manage how a change cascades through multi-tier supply chain dependencies (e.g., a component-level change rippling into a supplier qualification or launch-readiness submission).
• Maintain accurate, audit-ready records of change status, approvals, and decisions in relevant change management/ERP/PLM systems.
• Facilitate or participate in change review board (CRB) meetings — preparing agendas, materials, and status updates.
• Partner with production-line teams across sites to plan and confirm implementation readiness (timing, resourcing, build sequencing, documentation, training as needed).
• Build and maintain reporting/dashboards on change pipeline health and status for leadership, pulling and reconciling data across multiple Excel/Google Sheets sources.
• Write scripts (e.g., Python, Apps Script, VBA) as needed to automate recurring data retrieval and reporting from spreadsheet-based data sources.
• Continuously identify opportunities to streamline or improve the change governance process.

Required Qualifications (Must-Have)

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Manufacturing Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline
• 8+ years of program management experience with a core background in physical/hardware product development — managing BOMs, component qualification, hardware validation cycles, manufacturing and physical supply chains.
• Multi-tier automotive supply chain fluency — direct experience managing or escalating through OEM → Tier1 → Tier2/3 dependencies.
• Cross-functional program ownership without direct authority — demonstrated accountability spanning engineering, purchasing, supply chain, and manufacturing simultaneously.
• Automotive program lifecycle experience — hands-on with gate-driven development (APQP, PPAP, SOP milestones); understands cost/schedule implications of late changes across long program timelines.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets (pivot tables, complex formulas, data reconciliation across sources); comfortable writing scripts to automate data retrieval and reporting.
• Experience with at least one change management, PLM, or ERP tool (e.g., SAP, Windchill, or similar).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to synthesize complex, multi-functional program status for senior stakeholders and drive decisions under ambiguity.
• Willing and able to travel locally between Foster City, Hayward, and Kato on a regular basis, with occasional out-of-station travel.

Preferred Qualifications (Should-Have)

• Advanced degree (M.S./MBA) in Engineering or a related technical field.
• ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 certification (highly desired).
• Experience with PLM or CAD tools (highly favorable, not mandatory).
• Supplier nomination and re-sourcing experience — worked alongside purchasing on sourcing decisions, dual-sourcing strategy, and supplier development.
• Manufacturing launch exposure — line readiness, build sequencing around constraints, launch risk management, run-at-rate/capacity verification.