Senior Manager / Director - Ground Systems Service Operations

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.

Our customers include healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide rapid delivery services.

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.

About You and The Role

Zipline is looking for an Sr Manager / Director of Service Operations to build and scale the Ground Systems Service Operations organization. This role focuses on creating scalable operational systems, field service processes, technician organizations, and safety infrastructure across distributed service locations.

The position combines strategic leadership with hands-on operational execution across maintenance, staffing, onboarding, safety systems, escalation management, and operational scaling.

What You'll Do

• Build and scale Ground Systems Service Operations across active US metros and future expansion sites.
• Hire, develop, and retain leaders and frontline teams supporting field technicians, electricians, service specialists, and regional operators.
• Define operating models, ownership structures, and cross-functional service workflows.
• Create management systems including operating cadence, escalation reviews, site health reviews, and performance management.
• Build technician onboarding and training systems with qualification paths and field playbooks.
• Develop staffing and resourcing plans tied to site uptime and delivery volume.
• Establish field safety systems, incident response procedures, and corrective action mechanisms.
• Refine SOPs, maintenance playbooks, work-order processes, tooling catalogs, spares processes, and documentation standards.
• Create clear ownership and escalation paths for degraded or down assets.
• Partner with Engineering, Flight Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product, Finance, and Field Operations teams.
• Improve service economics through reduced downtime and improved asset availability.
• Support expansion into new metro launches and future ground-system platforms.
• Spend time in the field supporting service teams and operational improvements.

What You'll Bring

• Experience building and scaling operations, field service, maintenance, aviation, robotics, autonomy, or manufacturing organizations.
• Experience hiring and leading technical field teams and operational leaders.
• Strong operational design experience including staffing plans, onboarding systems, and process design.
• Experience supporting physical hardware operations across distributed sites or regions.
• Knowledge of work orders, tooling control, spares planning, maintenance workflows, and return-to-service processes.
• Strong safety leadership and operational metrics experience.
• Ability to manage operational escalations and cross-functional coordination under pressure.
• Willingness to travel regularly to field sites.

Additional Information

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds.