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Zoox is seeking a Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager to own end-to-end orchestration of product changes from engineering approval through cross-functional review to production-line implementation. This role serves as the single point of accountability for change governance across a multidisciplinary process, ensuring every change is tracked, vetted, and executed with full traceability.
Key Responsibilities:
- Serve as the single point of accountability for governance of changes from tentative Engineering approval through multidisciplinary alignment across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Purchasing, Supply Chain, and Logistics to production-line implementation.
- Assess and manage how changes cascade through multi-tier supply chain dependencies, coordinating supplier qualification and launch-readiness requirements.
- Partner with production-line teams at Zoox and relevant change management functions at suppliers to plan and confirm implementation readiness: timing, resourcing, build sequencing, documentation, and training.
- Maintain accurate, audit-ready records of change status, approvals, and decisions in change management, ERP, and PLM systems.
- Build and maintain reporting and dashboards on change pipeline health, using scripts (Python, Apps Script, VBA) or AI tools to automate data retrieval and reporting across Excel, Google Sheets, and Jira.
- Own and continuously improve the governance framework and checklist—required approvals, documentation, and gate criteria—partnering with IT/business systems teams to implement process and tooling improvements.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Manufacturing Engineering, or closely related engineering discipline.
- 10+ years of program management experience with core background in physical/hardware product development—managing BOMs, component qualification, hardware validation cycles, manufacturing and physical supply chains.
- Multi-tier automotive supply chain fluency with direct experience managing or escalating through OEM → Tier1 → Tier2/3 dependencies.
- Cross-functional program ownership without direct authority—demonstrated accountability spanning engineering, purchasing, supply chain, and manufacturing simultaneously.
- Automotive program lifecycle experience with hands-on gate-driven development (APQP, PPAP, SOP milestones); understands cost/schedule implications of late changes across long program timelines.
- Advanced proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets (pivot tables, complex formulas, data reconciliation); comfortable writing scripts to automate data retrieval and reporting.
- Experience with at least one change management, PLM, or ERP tool (SAP, Windchill, or similar).
Bonus Qualifications:
- Advanced degree (M.S./MBA) in Engineering or related technical field.
- ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 certification (highly desired).
- Experience with PLM or CAD tools.
- Supplier nomination and re-sourcing experience.
- Manufacturing launch exposure—line readiness, build sequencing, launch risk management, run-at-rate/capacity verification.
