Head of Data Ops & Annotations for Autonomy

Socket.dev; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Zipline is the world’s leading drone-delivery company building the autonomous logistics system that delivers critical medical supplies, food, and goods quickly and safely. You will lead the team turning real-world data into high-quality datasets for ML and autonomy, spanning field ops, autonomy, ML, engineering, and data infrastructure.

You will set data collection and annotation strategy, drive quality improvements, and partner with technical teams to evolve data operations with the needs of

Qualifications

• Experience leading and scaling operational or technical teams, including developing managers.
• Experience owning technically complex operational systems and improving performance at scale.
• Strong systems thinking and technical judgment across people, processes, hardware, software, and infrastructure.
• Experience leading ambiguous, cross-functional work from problem definition through sustained operation.
• Strong judgment in balancing quality, throughput, cost, and reliability.
• Track record of using metrics, tooling, and automation to drive measurable operational improvements.
• Clear communication and the ability to drive alignment and decisions across technical and operational teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end data collection, annotation, validation, and delivery at scale, speed, and cost.
• Partner with ML and autonomy teams to translate model needs into data requirements, collection strategies, and priorities.
• Design and improve annotation, validation, and quality-control workflows with tooling, automation, and metrics.
• Develop managers and teams, establish clear ownership, and build a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Lead cross-functional programs and drive decisions across operations, engineering, ML, and autonomy.
• Use operational data to identify bottlenecks and drive automation or engineering improvements that scale.

Skills

Leadership of ops/tech teams

Owning complex systems

Systems thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decision making

Metrics & automation

Communication skills

Job description

Zipline is the world’s leading drone-delivery company building the autonomous logistics system that delivers critical medical supplies, food, and goods quickly and safely. You will lead the team turning real-world data into high-quality datasets for ML and autonomy, spanning field ops, autonomy, ML, engineering, and data infrastructure.

You will set data collection and annotation strategy, drive quality improvements, and partner with technical teams to evolve data operations with the needs of