Construction Innovation Engineer

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 Zipline

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are.

From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers.

The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.

About this role

Zipline’s infrastructure does not map cleanly to standard construction approaches. This role is responsible for improving how we design and execute construction by identifying risks early and developing better ways to build.

The Construction Innovation Manager is an experienced construction leader who operates across projects. You will evaluate upcoming work, identify where standard approaches will break down, and implement solutions that improve cost, schedule, and scalability.

You will also step into active projects as needed to resolve issues, recover schedules, and support execution.

This position is based out of our office in South San Francisco with intermittent travel within California and the USA.

What you’ll do

• Review upcoming and active projects to identify:

• Execution risks

• Schedule constraints

• Cost drivers

• Develop and implement improvements to construction methods and processes

• Evaluate standard industry practices and determine:

• When they should be applied

• When they should be adapted or replaced

• Support construction and deployment teams with:

• Constructability feedback

• Sequencing and scheduling improvements

• Lead targeted efforts to:

• Recover slipping schedules

• Reduce cost

• Resolve complex field issues

• Step into projects as needed to:

• Remove blockers

• Re-align execution plans

• Drive progress

• Identify opportunities for:

• Standardization

• Prefabrication

• Improved vendor strategies

• Tooling to improve construction quality & placement accuracy for Zipline hardware

• Capture and implement lessons learned across projects

• Understand our internal and external customer’s business and needs and work with our internal engineering and business teams to refine and roadmap necessary changes to ensure the successful deployment of the Ground Systems infrastructure.

• Source and develop relationships with outside organizations (local jurisdiction, utilities, contractors, OEM and material suppliers etc).

• Evaluate all options and a lean budget, select best vendors to ensure reliable and quality services and products.

• Understand and mitigate the preconstruction, construction, operational and sustaining  risks associated with each project.

• Interact directly with internal and external partners and stakeholders as needed.

• Domestic travel to project sites expected on an ad-hoc basis.

What you’ll bring

• 6–10+ years of experience in construction management or infrastructure delivery

• Experience delivering complex, multi-disciplinary projects

• Strong understanding of construction across multiple trades (civil, structural, electrical, site work)

• Ability to evaluate and improve construction methods and execution strategies

• Ability to analyze and optimize construction schedules

• Track record of solving ambiguous, high-impact problems

• Experience supporting both:

• Planning and design phases

• Field execution

• Willingness to take ownership of urgent or high-priority issues

• Clear communication and ability to work across teams

• Strong candidates should have excellent communications skills to:

• Drive internal alignment of requirements for projects based on business needs.

• Provide leadership team with updates on scope, schedule and budgets.

• Drive external parties for the implementation of real estate projects.

• The individual will be based at Zipline's headquarters in South San Francisco and will be expected to travel intermittently to implement Zipline's expansion in multiple metros across the US and internationally .

• Must be eligible to work in the US.

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!