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.

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.

• 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.

• 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…