Job Description
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. 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.
About You and The Role
Zipline is launching its first Precision Delivery network in Kigali, Rwanda. This Launch Lead will be the on-the-ground owner accountable for turning a technical deployment into a safe, reliable, partner-ready operating network that serves patients, commercial customers, and national logistics needs. You will lead an integrated, cross-functional launch spanning Operations, Engineering, Partnerships, Regulatory, Government Affairs, Academy, Supply Chain, Infrastructure and vendors. Your decisions will establish the operating model, standards, playbooks, and measurable thresholds that make Precision Delivery repeatable across Africa.
This is a senior program leadership role with high operating intensity. You will not have direct reports but will set priorities, assign clear owners, arbitrate cross-functional tradeoffs, run governance, and be accountable for launch and stabilization outcomes. Success here directly impacts flight safety, regulatory compliance, service availability, and the program’s ability to scale regionally.
What You'll Do
- Own end-to-end delivery and accountability for the Kigali Precision Delivery launch: define success criteria, chair go/no-go governance, and remain accountable through launch and stabilization.
- Create and drive the integrated launch roadmap across site readiness (infrastructure, power, comms), staffing and certification, partner onboarding, community and regulatory engagement, customer support, supply chain, site commissioning, and commercial activation.
- Set and enforce measurable launch outcomes and thresholds (examples: milestone adherence, initial sortie success rate, partner onboarding targets, and operational availability targets for initial 30/90-day windows).
- Run the launch operating cadence: readiness reviews, decision logs, risk reviews, go/no-go forums, executive reporting, and rapid escalation when thresholds are missed.
- Lead cross-functional execution without direct authority: assign owners, map dependencies, track deliverables, mitigate risks, and hold teams and vendors to commitments.
- Coordinate field execution and verify practical readiness: validate site commissioning, accept site handover, and confirm end-to-end flight and ground operations work as designed.
- Drive regulatory and stakeholder engagement with Country Leadership, Legal, Regulatory, and Government Affairs: secure permits, demonstrate compliance with aviation standards, and manage government and partner expectations through launch.
- Establish the path to steady-state operations: define operating responsibilities, service-level targets, certification requirements, training standards, and documented playbooks for Operations to assume ownership.
- Capture lessons learned and convert them into scalable standards, templates, and playbooks to shorten and de-risk subsequent regional launches.
What You'll Bring
- 6+ years leading complex operational programs, launches, or infrastructure rollouts with ownership of multi-team launches and measurable outcomes.
- Demonstrated experience managing field deployments that involve Engineering, Operations, partners, and regulators. Experience in logistics, aviation-adjacent programs, autonomous systems, robotics, or last-mile delivery is preferred.
- Proven track record of delivering against concrete launch outcomes (e.g., completing infrastructure on schedule, meeting operational-availability targets, successful partner onboarding, or obtaining regulatory approvals).
- Strong program-management rigor: integrated planning, risk management, dependency mapping, decision frameworks, readiness reviews, and structured go/no-go processes.
- Clear, direct communication and stakeholder management with executives, technical teams, frontline operators, government stakeholders, and commercial partners.
- Demonstrated judgment and ownership: make timely decisions with incomplete information, escalate appropriately, resolve cross-functional conflicts, and stay with problems until resolved.
- Operate effectively under high intensity and emergent-market field conditions while maintaining safety and compliance standards.
- Willingness and ability to be based in Kigali and travel frequently throughout Rwanda for site work and stakeholder engagement; occasional international travel may be required.
- Must be able to work onsite for extended field activities and coordinate closely with in-country contractors and government agencies.
Preferred
- Prior experience in African or comparable emerging-market deployments.
- Experience with permitting, site commissioning, or government customer programs.
- Background in aviation safety, autonomous-system operations, or large-scale logistics network launches.
What Else You Need to Know
Please Note
We have received reports stating that certain individuals are reaching out to people under false pretenses, claiming to be Zipline employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives. They may seek to gain access to your personal information or to acquire money from you by offering fictitious employment opportunities or by claiming that they are contacting you on Zipline’s behalf.
Genuine Zipline employees or representatives will never ask you for money or payment in exchange for employment opportunities or other related services. Any such offer of employment or any other service in exchange for fees that claims to be from us is deceitful and part of a fraud.
If you believe you have been targeted by a fraudulent party, we ask that you immediately get in touch with us via email at [email protected] upon receiving a suspicious offer or claim.
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Job Details
- Department
- Operations
- Category
- Operations
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Location
- Rwanda, Burundi
- Posted
About Zipline
Zipline designs, manufactures, and operates autonomous drone delivery systems. Operating the world's largest autonomous delivery network, they deliver medical supplies, retail products, and more across multiple countries, completing millions of commercial deliveries.
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