Technical Program Manager Intern (Summer 2027)

Socket.dev; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 25,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking program management interns for our hardware-focused teams, to work on defining timelines, milestones, and cross-functional collaboration across electrical, mechanical, design validation, and embedded software domains. This in-person internship requires presence at Zipline's South San Francisco office five days a week, May/June through August/September 2027.

Ideal candidates are early-stage mechanical or mechatronics engineering students, with a strong technical foundation,

Qualifications

• Must have at least completed the second year of undergraduate studies in Mechanical or Mechatronics Engineering (or equivalent).
• Strong technical background and ability to explain challenges to engineers and non-engineers.
• Able to work in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment with clarity and ownership.

Responsibilities

• Understand and mitigate technical and program risks to keep projects on track and support decision making.
• Define program timelines, milestones, and critical path.
• Coordinate across electrical, mechanical, design validation, and embedded software teams to develop hardware.
• Drive prototype and test activities to validate new hardware designs.
• Report program updates to leadership and manage infrastructure builds for test campaigns.

Skills

Strong technical background

Excellent communication skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Ownership and bias for action

Education

Second year undergrad in Mechanical or Mechatronics Engineering (or equivalent); Masters/PhD eligible

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.

The Role

Zipline’s Program Management team is responsible for ensuring that Zipline achieves our company goals on time and on budget. Our PMs are embedded across our 6 hardware teams and work directly with engineers of many disciplines to design, build, and test our drones and ground infrastructure. Program managers define their team’s priorities and drive execution of key milestones in a constantly changing environment.

What You’ll Do

• Understand and mitigate technical and program risks to keep Zipline’s future programs on track. Drive decision making and trade off studies.
• Define program timelines, milestones and critical path.
• Manage and support cross-functional teams across electrical and mechanical engineering, design validation, and embedded software domains to build and execute a plan to develop new hardware
• Drive prototype and test activities to validate next generation hardware designs
• Report program updates to leadership
• Manage new infrastructure builds for our test campaigns and track hardware sample allocations
• Organize and facilitate meetings with cross-functional teams
• Work closely with cross-functional groups to track incoming parts and quality
• Manage upcoming hardware changes to meet company targets

What You’ll Bring

• Must have at least completed the second year of your undergraduate studies or equivalent in Mechanical or Mechatronics Engineering. Masters and PhD students are also eligible.
• Strong technical background
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain challenges and solutions to fellow engineers and non-engineers alike.
• Enthusiasm for collaborating in a fast paced and highly cross-functional environment
• Ability to pick up technical concepts rapidly
• Ability to drive clarity amidst chaos and ambiguity
• Extreme ownership and a bias for action
• Must be eligible to work in the US
• Demonstrated skill in aligning priorities, coordinating timelines, and leading complex scope, resource, and schedule trades
• Must be able to work in person at Zipline’s South San Francisco office 5 days a week

What Else You Should Know

Our internships are full-time positions, in-person at our South San Francisco or Dallas office. We will host our Summer 2027 interns from May / June - August/September.

Candidates are limited to three (3) applications within a 30-day period.

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.

Zipline is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your point of contact at Zipline know if you require any accommodations throughout your interview process.

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.