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.
Zipline is moving from flight operations managed directly by individual Remote Pilots in Command to highly automated delivery networks supervised at fleet scale. Safe, reliable growth requires operating standards that keep pace with automation, changing operator responsibilities, and regulatory requirements.
As Ops Standards and Readiness Lead, you will own the standards and evaluation system that makes operational performance visible and actionable. Starting with U.S. flight operations and built to scale globally, you will translate regulatory requirements, safety policy, operational doctrine, and system capabilities into readiness evidence, training, policy, and system improvements.
What You'll Do- Define measurable standards for flight operations, fleet supervision, and autonomous-system oversight.
- Translate regulatory requirements, safety policy, operational practice, and the P108 regulatory framework into practical performance criteria.
- Design objective evaluation methods, metrics, rubrics, and review processes for operators, supervisors, operational teams, and system performance.
- Own the Standards & Evaluations program, including controlled documentation, audit cycles, change management, and decision records.
- Lead recurring standards and readiness reviews through developmental gates with Training, Safety, Flight Operations, and Engineering.
- Analyze evaluation evidence to identify performance trends and gaps, then recommend targeted changes to training, procedures, policy, or system design.
- Deliver decision-ready readiness assessments that show whether operations meet defined standards, can scale safely, or require corrective action.
- Experience owning or materially leading an operational standards, audit, evaluation, or readiness program in a safety- and regulation-critical environment.
- Experience governing standards across a complex, multi-team operating system rather than a single procedure or functional team.
- Leads by example with energy, adaptability, and resilience, effectively navigating rapid change, competing priorities, ambiguity, and demanding timelines.
- Experience translating regulatory, policy, and technical inputs into clear operational criteria, controlled documentation, and auditable evidence.
- Experience designing evaluation or audit systems that produce consistent, objective findings rather than subjective judgment.
- Ability to build scalable governance processes, resolve competing inputs, and align Safety, Training, Flight Operations, and Engineering on standards changes.
- Sound judgment assessing safety, reliability, and operational risk as autonomous-system capabilities and operator responsibilities evolve.
Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.
We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!
For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.
As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.
Skills Required
- Experience owning or materially leading an operational standards, audit, evaluation, or readiness program in a safety- and regulation-critical environment.
- Experience governing standards across a complex, multi-team operating system rather than a single procedure or functional team.
- Experience translating regulatory, policy, and technical inputs into clear operational criteria, controlled documentation, and auditable evidence.
- Experience designing evaluation or audit systems that produce consistent, objective findings rather than subjective judgment.
- Ability to build scalable governance processes, resolve competing inputs, and align Safety, Training, Flight Operations, and Engineering on standards changes.
- Sound judgment assessing safety, reliability, and operational risk as autonomous-system capabilities and operator responsibilities evolve.
- Demonstrated leadership, adaptability, resilience, and ability to navigate rapid change and competing priorities under demanding timelines.
Zipline Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Zipline and has not been reviewed or approved by Zipline.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is consistently described as comprehensive and high quality, with multiple plan choices, low out‑of‑pocket costs, and additions like HRA, One Medical, and fertility support.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental and family leave is highlighted as generous and meaningfully used, reinforcing support for major life events.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, sick days, and holidays are portrayed as solid and broadly available, contributing to overall benefits depth.
Zipline Insights
What We Do
Zipline is the world's largest autonomous delivery network and is powered entirely by fixed-wing drones. Our fleet circles the equivalent distance of the equator every 2.5 days, and we have shipped hundreds of thousands of critical medical products across Rwanda, Ghana, and now beginning in the United States.
Why Work With Us
Zipline is the perfect intersection of super cutting-edge tech, deep social mission, and extremely compelling business case. Our small, scrappy, customer-obsessed, humble, and mission-driven team has set the bar for what is possible in the drone logistics industry globally, and has designed some incredibly elegant technology in the process.
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