Production Planner

Job Description

Job Description

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.

You are the Production Planner for Zipline's aircraft manufacturing lines, responsible for build readiness and on-time execution across NPI and steady-state production. This role sits at the intersection of production scheduling, material readiness, and shop-floor execution that directly enable Zipline's delivery network. Your day-to-day choices will determine whether aircraft leave the factory ready, qualified, and on schedule for field deployment—affecting customer deliveries, regulatory milestones, and operational safety. You will operate in a high-throughput, safety- and quality-driven factory environment where scope includes multiple product variants, changing BOMs, engineering substitutions, and cross-functional trade-offs.

• Own end-to-end production plans for assigned program(s) and work centers: translate weekly/monthly build targets into daily operator schedules, test capacity, and workstation assignments. Be the single owner for ship-date commitments.
• Maintain and update production master schedule and short-term shop schedules (0–30 days) to hit weekly build targets and minimize schedule slippage.
• Measure and drive key outcomes: on-time build completion %, first-pass test yield, WIP days, and shortage-resolution SLA. Own recovery plans when metrics fall below target.
• Align labor to demand: size daily labor rosters, prioritize cross-trained coverage, and trigger overtime or shift adjustments to meet build targets and reduce bottlenecks.
• Own material readiness: validate PO receipts, inspection queues, kitting, staging, and feeder-stock to ensure <24–48 hour material gap resolution for daily builds. Escalate critical shortages with proposed mitigations.
• Manage BOM changes and engineering substitutions in production windows with minimal disruption; implement controlled substitutions and workarounds when approved.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Test, and NPI to remove blockers, sequence builds, and implement permanent fixes for recurring failures.
• Run daily production cadence (standups, dashboard reviews, escalation), maintain planning artifacts (short-interval schedules, shortage logs, recovery plans), and present weekly performance to stakeholders.
• Drive continuous improvements that reduce WIP days, increase throughput, and shorten recovery time after disruptions; implement measurable countermeasures and validate impact.
• Own escalation for high-impact failures (tooling down, critical part shortage, test bottleneck) and lead rapid corrective action to protect committed delivery dates.

• 5+ years production planning or manufacturing operations experience supporting NPI and production; direct experience in aerospace, drones, robotics, automotive, or advanced electro-mechanical manufacturing strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ownership of production plans for multi-variant products and experience meeting aggressive build-rate targets and recovery SLAs.
• Track record of owning measurable outcomes: reduced WIP days, improved on-time build %, shortened shortage-resolution time, or increased first-pass yield—provide concrete examples in interview.
• Deep familiarity with ERP/MRP systems and short-interval planning workflows; experience with MES or digital manufacturing tools is strongly preferred.
• Able to operate onsite in a factory environment; role requires regular presence at the assigned Zipline facility (on-site daily or per-shift coverage as needed) and occasional early/late shift coordination. Willingness to work occasional weekends or extended shifts during schedule recovery periods.
• Strong bias for immediate, pragmatic fixes under constrained information—able to make and own trade-offs between quality, schedule, and cost while escalating safety or regulatory risks.
• Comfortable with high operating tempo, frequent engineering changes, and clear escalation responsibility for production-critical failures.
• Excellent communication: run daily cadence meetings, drive cross-functional decisions, and present clear recovery plans to leadership.
• Must be able to work in the country of the listed facility; Zipline can sponsor visas where appropriate.

Success in 30/90/180 days (examples of measurable expectations)

• 30 days: Own daily production cadence, stabilize short-interval schedule, and close top 3 active shortage tickets each week.
• 90 days: Own full weekly master schedule, reduce WIP days by a measurable baseline percentage (target depends on current baseline), and execute at least one recovery plan that returns build-rate to target within the committed window.
• 180 days: Demonstrate sustained on-time build completion at target rate for assigned program(s), implement one permanent throughput improvement that reduces test or assembly cycle time, and establish clear SLA reporting for shortages and labor coverage.

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!

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline 's Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.