As a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jonathan drew whenever he had a chance. His favorite medium was pen on napkins, usually in a restaurant while the adults chatted. In high school, Jonathan was employed as a caricaturist at the theme park Great America, in Santa Clara, California. He took his newly learned skills to volunteer at Stanford Blood Center as a caricaturist, drawing donors at various blood drives and children at Ronald McDonald House.

While attending the University of Southern California, a chance conversation with a 3rd year architecture student on the main campus walkway convinced him to transfer into the architecture program. In 2017, he graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture, with honors, and received the Discovery Scholar Prize.

Following graduation, he joined the Los Angeles office of HKS Architects, where he was selected as a 2017 Design Fellow. In 2018, he was among six chosen from across the firm to design a neonatal unit in Mbale, Uganda. He had the opportunity to travel to Uganda, where his tasks ranged from site documentation to installing a weather station.

In 2020, Jonathan joined Heather Young Architects in Palo Alto, California. He gained experience in commercial and high-end residential architecture in design and construction phases. During his time there, he also joined the ACE Mentorship program, and guided a group of high school students in a semester-long design project.

In the fall of 2022, Jonathan Zhang joined Marlon Blackwell Architects in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Unexpectedly, after moving to Arkansas, Jonathan joined the Latin dance scene and has since become obsessed with Romeo Santos.

His favorite work of architecture is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Maya Lin.