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.
You will own full-cycle recruiting for Zipline’s Autonomy, Fullstack, and Marketplace engineering teams. You’ll be the day-to-day recruiting lead for multiple hiring managers, designing hiring strategies, sourcing and assessing candidates, and closing technical talent across software, platform, and autonomy domains. This role is embedded in the Talent team and partners closely with engineering leadership, hiring managers, and interviewers to deliver hiring outcomes that match product roadmaps and org design.
What success looks like (first 6–12 months)
- Close 8–20 software hires across Autonomy, Fullstack, and Marketplace in the first 12 months (actual number adjusted to priority hiring plan).
- Maintain a pipeline of 6–10 qualified candidates per open role and 2–3 active finalists for critical roles.
- Average time-to-offer reduced to ~45 days for mid/senior IC roles and maintain offer-acceptance >=70%.
- Hiring manager satisfaction >=4/5 on post-hire surveys and evidence of improved interview calibration (fewer re-opens due to mis-assessment).
Must-have qualifications
- 6+ years full-cycle technical recruiting with a proven track record filling software engineering roles (individual contributors and occasional tech leads/manager hires).
- Direct experience partnering with engineering leaders on hiring strategies for backend, frontend, platform, and autonomy/embedded software disciplines.
- Strong active sourcing skills and practical use of tools such as LinkedIn Recruiter; experience scaling pipelines for mid-to-senior ICs.
- Proven ability to drive hiring outcomes: manage multiple concurrent requisitions, influence executives and hiring managers, and close candidates at market rates.
- Data-informed: comfortable tracking recruiting metrics and using them to prioritize work and change process.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Greenhouse or similar ATS and basic familiarity with recruiting dashboards/SQL.
- Prior hiring experience in robotics, autonomy, or complex systems a plus. Operating context & logistics
- Office: Aviary – South San Francisco (hybrid work model; typical expectation ~2–3 days/week onsite to meet with engineering teams).
- Typical stakeholder footprint: 3–6 hiring managers spanning Autonomy, Fullstack, Marketplace; 1–2 recruiting coordinators and interview panel members per hire.
- Visa sponsorship: Zipline can sponsor work visas for this role.
What Else You Need to Know
The starting cash range for this role is $135,000 - $180,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.
Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies.
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!
Skills Required
- 6+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience in high-growth, fast-paced environments
- Proven success hiring exceptional software engineering talent
- Experience partnering with senior engineering leaders to develop and execute hiring strategies
- Exceptional sourcing, stakeholder management, and influencing skills
- Deep understanding of the competitive software engineering talent landscape
- Strong business acumen, communication, prioritization skills, and data-informed decision making
- High degree of ownership, bias for action, and commitment to building diverse, high-performing teams
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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