Technical Release Manager

Join Zipline's System Validation team as a Technical Release Manager. In this role, you will define and own the process for releasing software, hardware, and integrated systems into commercial operations. You will coordinate release activities across component teams, assess release readiness, and lead cross-functional release forums. Additionally, you will proactively identify and own technical projects that resolve major inefficiencies in the release process. The ideal candidate will have technical fluency across complex hardware-software systems, experience using project management tools, and a background in aerospace, autonomous vehicles, or robotics.

• Define and own the process for releasing software, hardware, and integrated systems into commercial operations, ensuring alignment of release scope and readiness.
• Coordinate release activities across component teams and downstream consumers, aligning dependencies and incremental work with release milestones.
• Lead cross-functional release forums, driving clear decisions, ownership, and accountability, and proactively identify and own technical projects that resolve major inefficiencies in the release process.

• Technical fluency across complex hardware-software systems, with the ability to ask pointed questions, evaluate dependencies, and facilitate technical tradeoffs
• Experience using project, requirements, change, and configuration-management tools to maintain traceability, communicate decisions, and drive execution
• Working knowledge of software configuration, change, and release management, including version control, branch strategy, traceability, and compatibility management
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to translate technical status and risk for engineering, operations, and leadership audiences
• Demonstrated ability to lead highly specialized domain experts, facilitate technical and nontechnical discussions, and drive decisions without direct authority
• Familiarity with the systems engineering concepts, including verification and validation, safety and risk assessment, requirement to test traceability
• 3+ years of experience as a Technical Program Manager, Release Manager, Systems Engineer, or in a related role
• Proactive risk identification and sound judgment in fast-moving environments with incomplete information, shifting priorities, and competing constraints
• Experience in aerospace, autonomous vehicles, robotics, or other safety-critical, hardware-software systems
• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in systems engineering, computer science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience