In 1958, Zhang was born in Qianyang County, Shaanxi Province. In 1978 Zhang entered NUDT, majoring in liquid rocket engine technology. Zhang graduated BE and ME from NUDT. From July 1984 Zhang was a lecturer and researcher at NUDT working on rocket engine dynamics and control. In 1988 Zhang graduated Doctor of Engineering from the Department of Industrial Automation of Zhejiang University.^{[citation needed]}

Zhang did postdoc research at Canada's University of Waterloo. He was a professor and then promoted to the head of the Department of Astronautic Technology at NUDT. Zhang was the Director of Beijing Research Institute of NUDT. In 2004 Zhang was appointed as Commander of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia, which is the largest spaceport of China. In July 2008 Zhang was pointed as President of the National University of Defense Technology of PLA. Zhang was also an adjunct professor of Tsinghua University.^[2]