Lead, Data Operations & Annotations for ML Autonomy

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline, the world’s largest drone delivery service, is seeking a leader to build and scale data operations for ML and autonomy. You will shape how real-world data is collected, annotated, validated, and delivered, while aligning with engineering, ML, and field operations.

This role spans data engineering, operations, and governance. You will develop managers, establish ownership, and drive programs that improve quality, coverage, speed, and cost as Zipline grows its autonomous logistics

Qualifications

• Experience leading operational or technical teams.
• Experience owning technically complex operational systems and improving their performance at scale.
• Strong systems thinking across people, process, hardware, software, and infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead the organization and end-to-end operations for high-quality data collection, annotation, validation, and delivery.
• Partner with ML and autonomy teams to translate model needs into data requirements and strategies.
• Design and improve annotation, validation, and quality-control workflows with tooling and automation.
• Develop managers and teams, establish clear ownership, and foster accountability and continuous improvement.
• Lead cross-functional programs and drive decisions across operations, engineering, ML, and autonomy.
• Identify bottlenecks with data insights and drive automation to scale without proportional cost.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Cross-functional

Data operations

Automation

Tools

SQL

Python

Job description

Zipline, the world’s largest drone delivery service, is seeking a leader to build and scale data operations for ML and autonomy. You will shape how real-world data is collected, annotated, validated, and delivered, while aligning with engineering, ML, and field operations.

This role spans data engineering, operations, and governance. You will develop managers, establish ownership, and drive programs that improve quality, coverage, speed, and cost as Zipline grows its autonomous logistics