Category Manager - Construction, CAPEX & Tooling

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Zipline

Compensation

$135,000 - $265,000/year

South San Francisco, California, USA

On-site

Posted April 23, 2026

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.

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 you and the role

Does the prospect of a society-altering challenge—building and owning the end-to-end category strategy for construction, capital equipment, and production tooling to enable Zipline’s rapid global manufacturing expansion—sound like the type of work that gets you out of bed in the morning? Can you create sourcing strategies and supplier relationships from the ground up while driving aggressive negotiations, contract performance, and measurable outcomes in a fast-moving, high-stakes environment? Are you energized by the authority and responsibility of shaping an entirely new indirect procurement category in a mission-critical leadership role? If this excites you, you’re who we’re looking for!This is an in- person role based out of our HQ in South San Francisco requiring 30-50% travel to manage suppliers, construction partners, equipment vendors, and key stakeholders across North America, Asia, and other regions.

What you’ll do

In this highly visible leadership role, you will own the full category strategy, sourcing, negotiation, and supplier performance for Construction, CAPEX, and Tooling across Zipline. You will build the category from the ground up, establish best practices, define KPIs, and serve as the primary strategic partner to manufacturing, facilities, engineering, and finance teams to ensure world-class supply outcomes that support Zipline’s aggressive scaling and operational excellence.

Develop and execute comprehensive category strategies for construction projects, capital equipment (CAPEX), and production/maintenance tooling, including market analysis, supplier segmentation, sourcing roadmaps, and risk mitigation plans.
Lead end-to-end sourcing processes: supplier investigation, RFx development and execution, due diligence, selection, and competitive bidding to secure optimal value, quality, lead times, and innovation.
Negotiate and manage complex commercial contracts, pricing agreements, service l

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